Chronic congestive heart failure: observations at abdominal ultrasound with a comparison of abdominal veins in healthy individuals.

Findings observed at abdominal ultrasound in 8 patients with chronic congestive heart failure were hepatomegaly and dilated inferior vena cava which did not change its caliber during respiration. In some cases, distended hepatic or renal veins were also present. In a control group without known hepatic, cardiac, or renal disease, the veins were narrower, and the caliber of the inferior vena cava always responded to respiration, being widest at the end of inspiration and collapsed at Valsalva maneuver.