Right Portal Fissure of a Patient with Metastatic Liver Cancer, detected by High-end Liver Analysis System: A Case Report

Kazuhiro Takahashi, Ryoko Sasaki, Kazuhiko Yanagisawa, Satoshi Inagawa, Tadashi Kondo, Kiyoshi Fukunaga, Masayosi Yamamoto, Hideo Terashima, Tatsuya Oda and Nobuhiro Ohkohchi

Department of Surgery, Graduate School of Comprehensive Human Sciences, University of Tsukuba

No anatomical landmark exists for right portal fissure. We report a patient with a deep notch on the surface of the right hepatic lobe. To assess whether this notch was consistent with right portal fissure, we analyzed it using high-end 3-dimensional liver simulation software. A 72-year-old man seen for metachronous liver metastasis of sigmoid colon cancer was found in CT to have a low-density area, 3 cm in diameter in segment 7 of the liver, necessitating partial resection. A deep notch found during surgery on the surface of the right lobe, coincided with the border between the right paramedian and right lateral sectors. We conclude that this corresponded to a right portal fissure based on simulation software findings. With multidetector-row computed tomography data and high-end 3-dimensional liver simulation software, it is possible to identify a portal fissure accurately.

Key words
portal fissure, liver simulation, notch

Reprint requests
Kazuhiro Takahashi Department of Surgery, Graduate School of Comprehensive Human Sciences, University of Tsukuba
1-1-1 Tennoudai, Tsukuba, 305-8575 JAPAN

Accepted
July 23, 2008

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