Liver

 The liver is the largest gland of the body. It normally

weighs about 1.5kg. The sharp inferior border of the
liver does not normally extend below the right costal
margin. If it does, it is enlarged. In order to free the
liver for study, you must cut the falciform ligament,
superior and inferior parts of the coronary ligament,
the right and left triangular ligaments, the lesser
omentum and the structures in its free margin
(common bile duct, proper hepatic artery and portal
vein) and the hepatic veins at the point where they
empty into the inferior vena cava
 Size and Shape
 During development, liver size increases with increasing
age, averaging 5 cm span at 5 years and attaining adult
size by age 15. The size depends on several factors: age,
sex, body size and shape, as well as the particular
examination technique utilized (e.g., palpation versus
percussion versus radiographic). By percussion, the mean
liver size is 7 cm for women and 10.5 cm for men .A liver
span 2 to 3 cm larger or smaller than these values is
considered abnormal. The liver weighs 1200 to 1400 g in
the adult woman and 1400 to 1500 g in the adult man.
Frontal views of the liver for
different body types.
Lateral views of the liver for
different body types
Parts of liver
 Right lobe
 The right lobe is much larger than the left; the
proportion between them being as six to one.
 It occupies the right hypochondrium, and is separated
from the left lobe on its upper surface by the falciform
ligament; on its under and posterior surfaces by the
left sagittal fossa; and in front by the umbilical notch.
 It is of a somewhat quadrilateral form, its under and
posterior surfaces being marked by three fossæ: the
porta and the fossæ for the gall-bladder
 and inferior vena cava, which separate its left part into
two smaller lobes; the quadrate and caudate lobes.
 Left lobe
 The left lobe is smaller and more
flattened than the right. It is situated
in the epigastric and left
hypochondriac regions. Its upper
surface is slightly convex and is
moulded on to the diaphragm; its
under surface presents the gastric
impression and omental tuberosity.
 Falciform ligament
 The falciform ligament is a ligament which attaches the
liver to the anterior body wall. It is a broad and thin antero-
posterior peritoneal fold, falciform (Latin "sickle-shaped") in
shape, its base being directed downward and backward, its
apex upward and backward.
 It is attached by its left margin to the under surface of the
diaphragm, and the posterior surface of the sheath of the
right Rectus as low down as the umbilicus; by its right
margin it extends from the notch on the anterior margin of
the liver, as far back as the posterior surface.
 Coronary Ligament
 The coronary ligament of the liver refers to parts of
the peritoneal reflections that hold the liver to the
inferior surface of the diaphragm.
 The anterior layer of the coronary ligament is formed by
the reflection of the peritoneum from the upper margin
of the bare area of the liver to the under surface of the
diaphragm.
 The posterior layer of the coronary ligament is reflected
from the lower margin of the bare area and is
continuous with the right layer of the lesser omentum
 Location of the liver
 Located behind the lower ribs on the
right side of the abdomen.
 Functions of liver
 to produce substances that break down fats,
convert glucose to glycogen,
 produce urea (the main substance of urine), make
certain amino acids (the building blocks of proteins
),
 filter harmful substances from the blood (such as
alcohol), storage of vitamins and minerals (
vitamins A, D, K and B12)
 maintain a proper level or glucose in the blood. The
liver is also responsible for producing cholesterol. It
produces about 80% of the cholesterol in your body.