Assessment of portal vein embolism in the liver transplant candidates:comparison of ultrasound and spiral CT portography

Objective To investigate the accuracy of ultrasound and spiral CT portography in detecting portal vein embolism in the liver transplant candidates.Methods One hundred and thirty-five patients before liver transplantation,underwent ultrasound and spiral CT portography.Among them,31 patients were subjected to contrast-enhanced ultrasonography.Results The accuracy of ultrasound and spiral CT portography in detecting portal vein embolism was 91.1%(123/135)and 86.7%(117/135),respectively.Co-examination improved the accuracy(96.5%)(P＜0.05).The accuracy of contrast-enhanced ultrasound to differentiate between benign and malignant portal vein thrombosis was 100%,which was higher than that of ultrasound(58.6%),and spiral CT portography (73.9%)(P＜0.05),respectively.Conclusions Both ultrasound and spiral CT portography had high accuracy in the diagnosis of portal vein embolism,and the accuracy of CO-examination was higher.contrast-enhanced ultrasonography could differentiate portal vein blood thrombosis from tumor thrombosis,and give more information. Key words: Liver transplantation; Portal vein; Ultrasonography; Tomography,spiral computed