Segmental anatomy of liver by hepatic veins

Vinoth S¹, Parimelalzhagan M A Saikarthik^2*

¹Associate Professor, ²Assistant Professor, Department of Anatomy, Madha Medical College, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, INDIA.

Email: vinothsamy5555@gmail.com

Abstract               Surgeries of liver have advanced much in the past years and the more advancement in the field has brought surgeries along with more conservative procedures. This has made the need of a thorough knowledge of liver anatomy important. Liver is the largest organ in the abdomen with large blood flow which perform many important functions. It has its own insults in the form of infections, primary tumors and also secondary metastasis. It has a good regenerating capacity. This capacity of regeneration has been made to maximum use by the surgeons. In the past, large part of the liver were removed during procedures for primary liver tumours and the area for regeneration was large. Now more conservative surgeries are possible because the liver is no longer viewed as a solid organ below its capsule. The liver is organized into more clearly defined segments which is having its own inflow and outflow vascular channels and also biliary drainage. The inflow vascular channels are the portal vein and the hepatic artery. The blood drains into the inferior vena cava through the hepatic veins. The product of the liver, the bile, flows through the hepatic ducts and then forms the bile duct outside the liver. Based on this pattern it has been divided into eight vascular segments. With the advent of more non- invasive investigative procedures like ultrasonography and computerised tomography scan have made the cross sectional study on liver very easy. In this study I have made a sincere attempt to study the segmental anatomy of liver using the new radiological methods, ultrasonography and dissection methods.

Key Words: hepatic veins.