What's inside the liver

At the Association of Medical Illustrators meeting in 2015 at the Cleveland Clinic, my colleagues and I from TVASurg presented our perspective as visual communicators on surgical anatomy of the abdomen. Using surgical footage and 3D computer models, we drew comparisons between how abdominal anatomy is commonly depicted, and what we have observed in surgery.

This material was adapted from the presentation and divided into a three-part video series. In this second part of the video series, starting from the porta hepatis, I discuss structures inside the liver: the bile ducts, the hepatic arteries, and the portal veins. I take an in-depth look at how these vessels and ducts enter the liver and their anatomical relationship to each other. I also discuss some variations of the vessels and ducts and how they affect surgical approaches.