Left sided-right portal joined round ligament with an anomaly of the intrahepatic portal vein

Abstract

Anomalous branching of the intrahepatic portal veins and a round ligament variation were encountered in a 70-year-old male cadaver, with a positional variation of the liver. The liver was not extending to the left of the xiphoid process. The fissure for the round ligament was not present at the visceral surface, and the ligament was embedded inside the parenchyma. The round ligament was joining with the anterior branch of the right portal vein instead of the left. Portal blood supply of the quadrate lobe and most of the left lobe was provided by the variative branch of the right portal vein. By considering both settlements of the round ligament according to the gallbladder and the intrahepatic portal joining of it, we termed the case as left sided-right portal joined round ligament. The clinical importance of similar variations is emphasized as they can cause complications during liver transplantation and lobectomy.