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Beaver tail liver in a male

Case contributed by Ralph Nelson
Diagnosis certain

Presentation

Rule out Covid

Patient Data

Age: 25 years
Gender: Male
ct

Incidentally, variant hepatic morphology with elongated left hepatic lobe extending laterally to contact the spleen.

No signs of covid pneumonia.

Poor study quality to exclude pulmonary embolism.

Case Discussion

In our case the liver density is lower than the spleen's, suggesting hepatic steatosis. In cases where the liver and spleen densities are equivalent (normally liver density is slightly higher than spleen's), differentiating the two might be problematic, especially in cases of confirmed abdominal traumatic injury.

Beaver tail liver or sliver of liver is a rare anatomic hepatic variation, more common in females. This is the 2nd case where this finding is seen in a male out of 9 current cases on Radiopedia.  

Courtesy of Dr. Pressacco, J, staff radiologist, a role model to us, residents!

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