title: Spatial anatomy of the round ligament, gallbladder, and intrahepatic vessels in patients with right-sided round ligament of the liver.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To analyze the vascular structure of the liver in patients with a right-sided round ligament.
  
  
  METHODS
  We reviewed 16 patients with a right-sided round ligament and 3 polysplenia and situs inversus patients with a left-sided round ligament who underwent multidetector row CT with contrast media. The patient population consisted of 13 men and 6 women (mean 62 years). We analyzed the axial and volume-rendered images for the location of the round ligament, gallbladder, portal veins, hepatic veins, and hepatic artery. The following imaging findings for the patients with polysplenia and situs inversus were horizontally reversed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The prevalence of a right-sided round ligament with and without polysplenia was 75 and 0.11 %, respectively. The gallbladder was located to the right, below, and left of the round ligament in 27.7, 38.8 and 33.3 %, respectively. Independent branching of the right posterior portal vein was noted in 57.8 %. PV4 was difficult to identify in 36.8 %. The middle hepatic vein was located to the left of the round ligament. Two branching patterns for the lateral and medial branches of the right anterior hepatic artery were noted: the common (44.4 %) and separated types (55.5 %). Both of the right anterior hepatic artery and portal vein ramified into two segments; the lateral segment with many branches and the medial segment with a few branches.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The right-sided round ligament divided the right anterior section into the lateral and medial segments based on the portal vein and hepatic artery anatomy.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Mitsui Memorial Hospital, 1-Kanda Izumicho Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, 101-8643, Japan. kj-ibkr@qd6.so-net.ne.jp.
authors.forename: Kenji
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ibukuro
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Japanese Red Cross Musashino Hospital, 1-26-1 Kyounanchou, Musashino, Tokyo, 180-8610, Japan.
authors.forename: Takaya
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Takeguchi
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Mitsui Memorial Hospital, 1-Kanda Izumicho Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, 101-8643, Japan.
authors.forename: Hozumi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Fukuda
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Mitsui Memorial Hospital, 1-Kanda Izumicho Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, 101-8643, Japan.
authors.forename: Shoko
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Abe
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Mitsui Memorial Hospital, 1-Kanda Izumicho Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, 101-8643, Japan.
authors.forename: Kimiko
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Tobe
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D063405:Anatomic Variation; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D005704:Gallbladder / Q000002:abnormalities* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D006801:Humans; D008099:Liver / Q000098:blood supply* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011860:Radiography, Abdominal / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D000069592:Round Ligament of Liver / Q000002:abnormalities* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D013154:Spleen / Q000002:abnormalities* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Anomaly; CT; Liver; Polysplenia; Portal vein; Right sided round ligament