Alcoholic liver disease: value of the left-to-right portal vein ratio in its sonographic diagnosis.

A study group of 50 patients in whom the left portal vein diameter was equal to or greater than the right portal vein diameter (LPVD greater than or equal to RPVD) was prospectively compared on ultrasonography with a control group of 50 patients with LPVD less than RPVD. Clinical and laboratory data indicating chronic alcoholic liver disease (CALD) were observed with a significantly higher frequency in the study group than in the control group. It emerges from this study that LPVD greater than or equal to RPVD represents a useful ultrasonographic sign of CALD, corresponding to a relative enlargement of the left hepatic lobe compared with the right.