Abstract
Using liver catheters, we employed hepatic venography to study normal subjects and clinical patients with liver diseases and arrived at the following results in summary:
1. Little change from the normal was observed in the hepatic veins in hepatitis, liver fibrosis and mild liver cirrhosis, but in severe liver cirrhosis, the branches were fewer, as if it were a dead trees, showing marked changes in the general picture. In the case of severe but biliary cirrhosis, however, no change was observed. In the cases of liver cancer, circuitous courses of the hepatic veins and a round shadow were observed.
2. When the contrast medium was introduced as far as possible into the sinusoids, the sinusoids as well as the portal vein branches also came out in the venograms.
3. Anastomoses between the hepatic veins were observed in most of the normal livers and we could observe similar anastomoses in hepatitis, but they were found rarely in liver cirrhosis.
4. A finding suggesting anastomoisis between the hepatic and the portal veins was observed in a liver cirrhosis case.
