Objective To investigate the diagnostic value of B-mode ultrasonography in detecting middle hepatic vein(MHV)in chronic liver disease patients.Methods 80 chronic liver disease patients were divided into 2 groups(chronic hepatitis and liver cirrhosis).Liver biopsies and the inner diameter(ID)of MHV was detected with B-mode ultrasonography.The ID of MHV was compared in the chronic hepatitis and liver cirrhosis groups,different liver fibrosis stages and compensation/non-compensation liver cirrhosis.The ability of ID of MHV in auxiliary diagnosis liver cirrhosis was analyzed with the receiver operating characteristic curve(ROC).Results The size of ID of MHV in liver cirrhosis(3.82±1.84)mm was smaller than that of chronic hepatitis(6.15±1.67)mm(P＜0.01).The size of ID of MHV in non-compensation liver cirrhosis(2.98±1.15)mm was smaller than that of compensation liver cirrhosis(4.42±2 20)mm(P＜0.05).There was midrange negative correlation with liver fibrosis stages and the ID of MHV(rs=-0.465,P＜0.01).The cutoff point of ID of MHV diagnosis liver cirrhosis was 4.7mm.The area under ROC(AUC)achieved 0.813(P＜0.01).The sensitivity(Se),specificity,(Sp),positive predictive value (PPV),negative predictive value(NPV)and Youden index were 67.5%,90.0%,88.0%,73.5% and 57.5%,respectively.Conclusion There is well clinical value with B-mode ultrasonography detecting ID of MHV for the auxiliary diagnosis of chronic liver disease.