PURPOSE: We examined the relationship between portal venous velocity and hepatic-abdominal fat in patients with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), using spectral Doppler ultrasonography (US) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). MATERIALS AND METHODS: In this prospective study, 35 patients with NAFLD and 29 normal healthy adults (control group) underwent portal Doppler US. The severity of hepatic steatosis in patients with NAFLD was assessed by MRI through chemical shift imaging, using a modification of the Dixon method. Abdominal (intra-abdominal and subcutaneous) fat was measured by MRI. RESULTS: The difference in portal venous velocity between the patients with NAFLD and the control group was significant (p < 0.0001). There was no correlation between the degree of abdominal or hepatic fat and portal venous velocity (p > 0.05). There were strong correlations between the hepatic fat fraction and subcutaneous adiposity (p < 0.0001), intraperitoneal fat accumulation (p = 0.017), and retroperitoneal fat accumulation (p < 0.0001). CONCLUSION: Our findings suggest that patients with NAFLD have lower portal venous velocities than normal healthy subjects.
Abdominal Fat/pathology ; Adult ; Aged ; Blood Flow Velocity/*physiology ; Case-Control Studies ; Fatty Liver/*physiopathology/*ultrasonography ; Female ; Humans ; Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Obesity/complications ; Overweight/complications ; Portal Vein/*ultrasonography ; Prospective Studies ; *Ultrasonography, Doppler

Percutaneous device closure of atrial septal defect (ASD) is an alternative treatment to surgery. The main advantages of the percutaneous approach include avoidance of surgery, short procedure time and hospital length, in addition to comparable rates of complications. However, percutaneous device closure is associated with infrequent early and late complications including device embolization, air embolism, cardiac tamponade and thrombotic complications. We report a rare complication of silent and late device embolization of the ASD occluder device into the right pulmonary artery, three months after implantation.
Cardiac Tamponade ; Embolism, Air ; Heart Septal Defects, Atrial ; Pulmonary Artery ; Pulmonary Embolism ; Septal Occluder Device