Clinical significance of arterial blood resistance in viral acute hepatitis

To clarify the significance of arterial blood resistance in viral acute hepatitis, we evaluated the pulsatility index (PI) with the pulsed-wave Doppler measurements. Mean PI was 1.23, 1.52 and 1.17, in hepatitis A, hepatitis B and hepatitis C, respectively. In hepatitis B, PI of the high viral load group was higher than that of the low viral load group (1.63 vs 1.08). PI was increased in fluctuating cases of hepatitis B and C. In some cases of hepatitis B, PI was decreased after the initiation of anti-viral drug. These data indicate that the measurement of PI is useful for the prediction of the prognosis of acute viral hepatitis and the choice of the antiviral drug.