[Ultrasonography in hepatocellular disease (author's transl)].

Results of ultrasonography in 38 Patients with hepatocellular disease are discussed. Normal ultrasonographic findings do not necessarily exclude always the presence of hepatocellular disease; and sonography does not allow a differential diagnosis in regard to the etiology of hepatocellular disease. Nevertheless, abnormal liver size (enlarged or small liver), changes of sonographic characteristics of the liver (increased echogenicity, reduced echo transmission), reduced number and caliber of portal and hepatic veins, presence of extrahepatic venous collaterals, and secondary findings such as ascites and splenomegaly support the ultrasonographic diagnosis of hepatocellular disease associated with portal hypertension.