title: Effect of severity of steatosis as assessed ultrasonographically on hepatic vascular indices in non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.
abstract: Early monitoring of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) progression in obese patients is important to avoid the development of complications associated with fatty infiltration.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  of this study was to investigate the relationship between the degrees of fatty infiltration and reduced vascular compliance in NAFLD patients in the three main hepatic vessels.
  
  
  METHODS
  Two hundred and fourty subjects were enrolled in the study. They were divided into 4 groups: 60 controls, 60 grade 1 NAFLD patients, 60 grade 2 NAFLD patients and 60 grade 3 NAFLD patients. After US confirmation of the presence and grade of NAFLD, the peak and mean portal vein velocity (PPVV and MPVV, respectively), the hepatic artery resistance index (HARI), and the phasicity of the hepatic vein were measured.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The PPVV was 19.6 +/- 2.4 cm/sec in patients with grade 1 fatty liver, 17.6 +/- 1.2 cm/sec in grade 2 and 15.4 +/- 1.1 cm/sec in grade 3. The MPVV was 16.6 +/- 2.4 cm/sec in patients with grade 1 fatty liver, 16.6 +/- 2.9 cm/sec in grade 2 and 12.7 +/- 0.7 cm/sec in grade 3. The HARI was 0.75 in patients with grade 1 fatty liver, 0.68 in grade 2 and 0.64 in grade 3. There was an inverse relationship between PPVV, MPVV and HARI and different grades of fatty liver in patients (p = 0.001 for PPVV (Figure 7) and HARI, p = 0.006 for MPVV.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The values of the investigated liver blood flow parameters were inversely correlated with the fatty infiltration grading. Fatty infiltration can severely influence hepatic blood flow, pointing attention to the importance of early diagnosis and the need for hepatic vessel flow abnormalities characterization in the NAFLD population.
authors: Radiology Department, Urmia University of Medical Sciences, Urmia, Iran.
authors: Afshin
authors: A
authors: Mohammadi
authors: Mohammad
authors: M
authors: Ghasemi-rad
authors: Hengameh
authors: H
authors: Zahedi
authors: Gergely
authors: G
authors: Toldi
authors: Tahereh
authors: T
authors: Alinia
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D005234:Fatty Liver / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008099:Liver / Q000098:blood supply* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D008102:Liver Circulation; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D065626:Non-alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D018615:Ultrasonography, Doppler, Color; D055815:Young Adult