RADIOGRAPHIC STUDY OF THE TOPOGRAPHY OF THE HEPATIC VASCULATURE AND BILE DUCTS OF THE RABBIT

摘要

The aim of the present study was to describe and illustrate the ramification patterns of the hepatic artery, portal vein, hepatic veins and bile ducts within the rabbit liver by means of postmortem angiography performed in 40 New Zealand white rabbits. The hepatic artery bifurcated into the left and right hepatic branches. The portal vein received a separate tributary from the caudate lobe before it separated into the right branch and the left branch. Five hepatic visceral tributaries of the caudal vena cava were identified: the left dorsal hepatic vein, left hepatic vein, right hepatic vein, middle hepatic vein and a proper vein of the caudate lobe. Postmortem cholangiography demonstrated the presence of a common hepatic duct. The anatomical nomenclature of the various intrahepatic blood vessels and bile ducts is critically reviewed and compared with the terminology used in radiographic studies.