Liver

Description

Oriented from a superior aspect, the male liver occupies the right upper quadrant beneath the costal margin, with the convex diaphragmatic surface sweeping anteriorly and laterally while the visceral (inferior) surface turns posteroinferiorly toward the stomach and duodenum. Peritoneal reflections mark attachment zones along the bare area, the coronary ligament, and the right and left triangular ligaments, with the falciform ligament separating right and left anatomical lobes on the anterosuperior surface. On the visceral side, the porta hepatis sits transverse and central, positioned between the caudate lobe posteriorly and the quadrate lobe anteroinferiorly, and continuous with the fissure for the ligamentum venosum and the fissure for the ligamentum teres. A branching intrahepatic biliary tree courses through hepatic parenchyma toward segmental ducts, and the gallbladder lies on the inferior surface, to the right of the quadrate lobe. Top-down orientation clarifies the peritoneal relationships that govern surgical mobility of the liver and the pathways for subphrenic and subhepatic fluid collections. It also helps you map the extrahepatic biliary tract at the porta hepatis, where the common hepatic duct forms and where iatrogenic injury can occur during cholecystectomy or hepatic hilar dissection. Small margins matter. Use this illustration for gross anatomy lab teaching on peritoneal reflections, for hepatobiliary surgery and interventional radiology lectures explaining the porta hepatis and biliary branching, or for textbook figures on liver surface anatomy and gallbladder positioning in the right hypochondrium. Anatomical accuracy verified by SciePro's Medical Advisory Board.