Sonography of caudal hepatic veins in children. Incidence, importance and relation to cranial hepatic veins.

In 200 unselected upper abdominal sonographies in children the hepatic venous anatomy was examined with special reference to caudal hepatic veins. In 42% of patients caudal hepatic veins could be demonstrated sonographically, while large caudal hepatic veins could be shown in 12.5% of patients. The large caudal hepatic veins always drained from the posterior-inferior or posterior-lateral parts of the liver complementing the right (cranial) hepatic vein. When the size of the right cranial hepatic vein was small the caudal hepatic vein(s) were large. Sonographic demonstration of a small right hepatic vein is a useful indicator of large caudal hepatic veins, and the relative sizes of the cranial and caudal veins are inversely proportional.