The venous drainage

The venous drainage

The IVC occupies a groove on the posterior surface of the liver that drains into it via three large veins immediately below the diaphragm. The suprahepatic IVC immediately traverses the diaphragm to enter the right atrium, but below the liver there is a short clear segment above the insertion of the renal veins. A variable number of short inferior hepatic veins pass directly from the liver to the anterior wall of the IVC. The right hepatic vein can be exposed fully outside the liver parenchyma, but the middle and left veins usually terminate in a short common trunk before entering the IVC. The right adrenal gland is adjacent to the retrohepatic IVC and drains into it, usually by a single vein.