The hepatic artery is the arterial blood supply to the liver, originating from the celiac trunk as the common hepatic artery before becoming the proper hepatic artery and dividing into right and left branches. On Doppler ultrasound, the hepatic artery is evaluated as part of routine liver examinations and is especially important in liver transplant assessments, where hepatic artery thrombosis or stenosis can jeopardize the transplanted organ. The normal hepatic artery waveform shows a low-resistance pattern with continuous forward diastolic flow. An elevated resistive index or an abnormal tardus-parvus waveform can indicate proximal stenosis.
Sonography Term