ACCESSORY LOBES OF. THE LIVER

Abstract

Although the embryonic development of the liver is complex and the early embryonic organ is multilobular, accessory lobes of the liver are very rare. Because these accessory lobes are quite small and usually on the undersurface of the liver, before necropsy, they have made their presence known in only a few instances. The literature contains a case record of a large accessory lobe, 12 cm. in diameter, which twisted on its pedicle, producing symptoms of strangulation until surgically relieved. The author has presented a case of a large, movable accessory lobe of the liver which presented itself as an unexplained abdominal mass until exploration uncovered its true nature. This makes but two traceable instances in which abdominal exploration was undertaken due to the presence of an accessory lobe of the liver.