Dilatation of the cystic veins in portal hypertension: sonographic demonstration.

High-resolution real-time ultrasound (6 MHz) demonstrated vascular dilatation in the adventitial layer of the gallbladder in 7 patients with portal hypertension. The hypertension was due to long-standing cirrhosis in 4 patients; the other 3 patients had prehepatic hypertension due to thrombosis involving the portal vein in 1 and the splenoportal confluence in 2. In one of the cirrhotic patients, postmortem correlation of sonographic, angiographic, and pathological findings showed that the dilated vessels seen on sonography were cystic veins draining normally into the portal vein rather than portosystemic anastomoses. This indicates that varicosity of the cystic vein can be associated with portal hypertension, taking the form of either passive dilatation or hepatopetal portal collateral circulation.