Combined hepatic and umbilicoportal catheterization was performed in 43 compensated cirrhotic patients. The umbilicoportal catheter was positioned in the portal vein (41 patients) or the left branch of the portal vein (2 patients). Wedged hepatic venous pressure was equal to free portal venous pressure in 17 patients. The difference between these two parameters was between 0.5 and 1 mm Hg (17 cases). In the other 9 patients, the difference ranged from 1.5 to 4 mm Hg. The correlation between these two parameters was highly significant. These studies show that in patients with cirrhosis, there is a highly significant correlation between wedged hepatic venous pressure and free portal venous pressure.