Liver - right lobe
Lobus hepatis dexter
DigestiveOrgansAbdomen
- What it is
- Largest lobe of the liver, filling the right upper abdomen under the right dome of the diaphragm. Its smooth diaphragmatic surface is domed; below, it ends in a sharp inferior border, and its concave visceral surface carries impressions of the colon, right kidney, duodenum and the gallbladder fossa.
- Function
- Hepatocytes make bile, process nutrients arriving in the portal vein, store glycogen and vitamins, build plasma proteins such as albumin and clotting factors, and detoxify drugs and ammonia.
- Size
- The whole liver weighs 1.4-1.6 kg and measures about 21-22 cm across and up to 15-17 cm front-to-back; the anatomical right lobe is about six times larger than the left.
- Clinical note
- Surgeons divide the liver along Cantlie's line (gallbladder fossa to IVC) into functional right and left halves and 8 Couinaud segments, each with its own portal and biliary supply.