The aim of our study was to analyze the value of the spleen ultrasound for the diagnosis of portal hypertension. Methods: The study comprised 112 patients diagnosed with cirrhosis who had different degrees of esophageal varices. We evaluated the spleen size, the mean portal vein velocity and the splenix index. Results: All patients presented elevated splenic index (mean index: 100.51 cm2) and low portal velocity (mean speed: 9.44 cm/sec). We found a negative correlation between a portal velocity and the splenic index (r=-0.35). Our data suggest that the increase of the splenic index is significantly associated with the degree of esophageal varices (p=0.0001) and with the severity of the portal hypertension (p=0.0001). Conclusion: In patients with cirrhosis the splenic index is correlated with the severity of the portal hypertension respectively with the degree of esophageal varices. The splenic index may be a useful tool for diagnosing large esophageal varices in liver cirrhosis.
Keywords: spleen ultrasound, portal hypertension, liver cirrhosis