Identification of hepatic cirrhosis by duplex doppler ultrasound value of the hepatic artery resistive index.

Pulsed Doppler Ultrasound was used to analyze hepatic artery wave forms near the porta hepatis. The Resistive Index (RI) = [peak systolic frequency shift (A)--minimum diastolic frequency shift (B)]/[peak systolic frequency shift (A)] has been calculated from this information. Two populations have been compared; 30 fit hospital staff members, 23 male, 7 female, age mean 37 years and range 19 to 73 years, and 33 cirrhotic potential liver transplant recipients, 16 male, 17 female, age mean 48 years and range 11 to 78 years. The RI was successfully obtained in 94% of the potential transplant patients. There is a significant difference between the RI of the controls (mean = 0.72, SE = 0.2, n = 27) and the cirrhotics (mean = 0.82, SE = 0.2, n = 31), P less than 0.0001. Using a cut off of greater than 0.77 this index has a sensitivity, specificity and overall accuracy of 68%, 70% and 69% respectively.