Primary Budd-Chiari syndrome: ultrasonic demonstration.

Three cases of primary Budd-Chiari syndrome were found by ultrasonic examination. These were confirmed by hepatic venography and inferior vena cavography. The ultrasound findings in these patients included communicating vessels between hepatic veins, enlarged inferior right hepatic vein, reversed blood flow in the hepatic vein, and obstruction of the inferior vena cava. With these findings, ultrasound can be used to diagnose primary Budd-Chiari syndrome without hepatic venography or inferior cavography.