RESUMO
BACKGROUND/AIMS: The fetus liver was characterized by its relatively larger left lobe than right lobe. So far there are no available morphometrical data and shape of the late-stage of human fetal liver, including identification of the intrahepatic vessels, which is little bit different from adult liver. METHODS: Among usual anatomic cadavers in department of anatomy of Sapporo medical university we choose normal- looking 12 late-stage human and 10 adult livers. At first, we measured the thickness and height and width of the livers at each designated sites and than underwent dissection for measurement of major intrahepatic vessels. In fetus, the upward protrusion of S8 was not evident, while S4 provided the greatest thickness of the liver. The fetus revealed an ellipsoid or oval shaped visceral surface and large S3, while the adult liver was triangular. The Arantius duct was almost always narrower than each of the 3 major hepatic veins, and it was often narrower than the umbilical vein. CONCLUSION: Both S2 and S6 seemed to enlarge during the postnatal growth, although there seemed to be great individual variations in the process of the growth. In the late stage fetus, three major hepatic veins seemed to play a great role for the venous return to the heart from the liver, rather then the Arantius duct.