Abstract

Liver is the largest gland in the body and rarely shows variations. It occupies a substantialportion of upper abdominal cavity. Most common morphological variations of liver are irregularities in the form,shape, andpresence of number of accessory lobes, accessory fissures or abnormal ligaments. The exact origin of accessory lobes of liver in man is unknown and may stimulate tumours. Accessory fissure may mimic internal trauma at the post-mortem study. Rare abnormalities are atrophy or complete absence of one of the lobes. The developmental anomalies of liver may cause confusion to clinician during procedures like biopsy, transplantation & other important surgical or radiological procedures.Knowledge and awareness of these anomalies is useful to the clinician to rule out diseases, surgeons during segmental resection of liver and radiologist when interpreting liver radiologic findings. The aimof the present studycomprisesa systematic analysis of the anatomical variations exhibited by 50 formalinised and glycerinated adult human livers collected from department of Anatomy, KAMSRC(Hyderabad) &KIMS(Narketpally). Results & conclusion: Wefound accessory liver lobes in 8 cadavers (16%), accessory fissuresin 15 cases (30%).There is also abnormal connection between left lobe and quadrate lobe in 2 cases (4%) and other morphological variations were also present. Detailed knowledge of anatomical variations in the human liver could be valuable in improving diagnostic procedures and in attaining a better understanding of pathological conditions associated with some liver diseases Hence we undertook this comprehensive study to note important accessory lobes and fissures and other abnormalities in liver.