Presentation
Right hypochondrial pain. Her liver biochemistry results -AST and ALT were mildly elevated. Normal ALP, GGT.
Patient Data
Mild hepatomegaly was noted with a craniocaudal length of 16.5 cm. Left lobe of the liver is elongated laterally and wraps around the spleen in a crescentic shape.
No focal lesions or intra hepatic duct dilatation.
Rest of the upper abdominal organs are unremarkable
Case Discussion
Beaver tail liver, also called sliver of liver, is a rare variant of liver morphology. Elongated left lobe of the liver can sometimes extend laterally across the midline to contact and often surround the spleen.
In a recent study 1 done on morphological variants of liver in humans, main variants identified were:
Presence of fissures in different lobes of the liver, and the highest frequency being observed in the right lobe with an occurrence of 51.43%.
Single or multiple grooves in the anterior surface (11.43%).
Elongated left lobe (12.86%).
Accessory lobe (12.86%).
When confronted with a similar case, reviewing the reconstructed images in multiple planes aids the diagnosis when the elongated left lobe appears to continue with the normal liver parenchyma.