Can Doppler Sonography Grade the Severity of Hepatitis C-Related Liver Disease?

Abstract

OBJECTIVE. Many authors have claimed that Doppler sonography indexes are of value in grading and assessing diffuse liver disease. However, there is much controversy regarding the reliability and reproducibility of these techniques. We performed a prospective study to evaluate whether these methods can grade disease in a well-stratified cohort of patients with hepatitis C virus (HCV)-related liver disease.SUBJECTS AND METHODS. Sixty-five patients with biopsy-proven HCV-related liver disease were recruited, and Doppler sonography was performed by one operator. The patients were classified into one of the following three groups on the basis of the Ishak-modified histologic activity index (HAI) fibrosis (F) and necroinflammatory (NI) scores: mild hepatitis (F ≤ 2 and NI ≤ 3), moderate or severe hepatitis (3 ≤ F < 6 or NI ≥ 4), or cirrhosis (F = 6/6). We measured the following Doppler indexes: main hepatic artery peak velocity (Vmax) and resistive index, main portal vein peak velocity (Vmax), and maximal porta...