ANATOMY OF THE LIVER Embryology

ANATOMY OF THE LIVER Embryology

Liver development begins at 3–4 weeks’ gestation when a hepatic foregut diverticulum buds into the ventral wall of the primitive midgut. This diverticulum is the anlage for the liver, extrahepatic biliary ducts, gallbladder and ventral pancreas, which develop over the next week. The basement membrane surrounding the liver bud is then lost and cords of bipotential hepatoblasts invade the septum transversum and di ff erentiate into hepatocytes and cholangiocytes. Francis Glisson , 1597–1697, Regius Professor of Physic, Cambridge, UK, described the capsule of the liver and its blood supply in his book (1654).

The management of benign and cystic liver lesions • The management of intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma • The management of hepatocellular carcinoma • The management of colorectal liver metastases •