title: Anatomical variations of the right hepatic veins and their relevance to surgery.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  In a morphological study of the right hepatic veins anatomical characteristics of surgical importance were looked for.
  
  
  METHODS
  110 cadaveric human livers were prepared by the corrosion casts method. The confluence patterns of the superior right hepatic vein, the hepatocaval confluence, the accessory right hepatic veins and the anastomoses between hepatic veins in the right hemiliver were examined.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Four types of the superior right hepatic vein, based on the length of its trunk and the confluence pattern of its main tributaries were determined and their frequency was calculated. Type I was found in 20%, type II in 40%, type III in 25% and type IV in 15%. Accessory right hepatic veins with a minimal caliber of 0.4 cm, which were always present in type IV, were also found in other types, all together in 27% of the casts. The tributary-free part of the superior right hepatic vein at hepatocaval confluence was longer than 1 cm in 77%. In the right hemiliver 109 anastomoses were found in 29/110 liver casts.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Knowing the characteristics of different superior right hepatic vein types and of the accessory right hepatic veins may be useful in segment-oriented liver resections and in right side living donor resections.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Anatomy, Medical Faculty, Ljubljana, Slovenia.
authors.forename: Marija
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hribernik
authors.forename: Lucio
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: de Cecchis
authors.forename: Blaz
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Trotovsek
authors.forename: Eldar M
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Gadzijev
authors.forename: Dean
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Ravnik
mesh_terms: D016319:Corrosion Casting; D006503:Hepatic Veins / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000601:surgery*; D006801:Humans; D012016:Reference Values; D009626:Terminology as Topic; D014682:Vena Cava, Inferior / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000601:surgery