Budd-Chiari syndrome: diagnosis with duplex sonography.

Three patients with proven Budd-Chiari syndrome were examined with a duplex sonograph consisting of a real-time ultrasonograph and a pulsed Doppler flowmeter. In these cases, the pulsed Doppler analysis associated with the real-time imaging showed abnormalities in the direction of flow in the hepatic vein, communicating vessel between hepatic veins, and/or retrohepatic inferior vena cava, which were consistent with obstruction of hepatic venous outflow. With these findings, duplex sonography can be used to diagnose Budd-Chiari syndrome.