Ultrasound Assessment of Portal Vein Diameter in Healthy Adult Women in South-South Nigeria

Background: About 75% of the liver blood flow is from the portal vein, while the remaining 25% comes from the hepatic artery. One of the main abnormalities of the portal system is portal hypertension, and the portal vein diameter is key in make this diagnosis.

Objectives: To assess the mean normal portal vein diameter in healthy women in South-South Nigeria.

Subjects and Methods: This descriptive, cross-sectional study was conducted at all the clinical departments of the two tertiary health facilities, one secondary facility and one radio-diagnostic facility in Bayelsa State, South-South Nigeria, between April, 2022 and December, 2022. Data analysis was done using Statistical Product and Service Solutions for Windows® version 25, SPSS Inc.; Chicago, United States of America (USA). Descriptive statistics (mean, standard deviation, frequency, and percentages) and Pearson product moment correlation were used for the analysis. The level of significance was considered at p<0.05.

Results: Portal vein diameter ranged from 6.8 mm to 16.6 mm, with a mean of 10.46 ± 2.00 mm. Body mass index (ɼ = 0.41), age (ɼ = 0.43), parity (ɼ = 0.44), weight (ɼ = 0.49) and height (ɼ = 0.27) had a significant relationship (p – 0.001) with portal vein diameter. The relationship between portal vein diameter and age/parity of participants was of positive increasing trend.

Conclusion: This research has established baseline values for normal range of PV diameter in healthy women in our region of Nigeria, and also revealed significant correlation of PV diameter with age, parity, weight, height and body mass index.