Portal Hypertension: A Review

Portal hypertension is a serious condition that is most commonly a result of cirrhosis. It is defined as an increase in portal venous pressure that impedes blood flow into the liver. This review describes portal hypertension and its typical etiologies. Two-dimensional and Doppler sonography play impor-tant roles in the diagnosis and surveillance of pa-tients with portal hypertension. Key words: portal hypertension, sonography, abdominal Doppler, transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt Portal hypertension is defined as an increase in portal venous pressure or hepatic venous gradient. It exists when the portal venous pressure is above 10 mm Hg or the hepatic venous gradient is more than 5 mm Hg.