Fetal hepatic vessels and subsegmentation with evidence of further subdivision

Abstract

The livers of stillborn infants varying in gestational age between 6 and 9 months were studied morphologically by dissection and through preparation of corrosion casts of the portal veins and hepatic arteries. The portal veins showed strict territorial distribution. Variations in the ramifications of the area veins were met with. Also the right and left portal branches, together with certain area veins, constituted venous arcades. Planes within the territory of the portal vein were noticed to separate the territories supplied by the area vein and the area artery. A plane separating the territories of the anterior and posterior segmental veins and another, separating the territory of the posterior superior and posterior inferior areas, were met with, coinciding with fissures on the inferior surface of the liver. Moreover, intraquadrate and intracaudate fissures coinciding with planes separating the territories of ramification of the two main branches in each area, were recognized, denoting the possibility of further subdivision.