Opinion Review
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World J Exp Med. Jun 20, 2024; 14(2): 92157
Published online Jun 20, 2024. doi: 10.5493/wjem.v14.i2.92157
Liver surface depressions in the presence of diaphragmatic muscular bands on trans-illumination
Shamir O Cawich, Michael T Gardner, Ramanand Shetty, Jean Pierre Louboutin, Zenica Dabichan, Shaneeta Johnson
Shamir O Cawich, Department of Surgery, University of the West Indies, St Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago
Michael T Gardner, Ramanand Shetty, Jean Pierre Louboutin, Zenica Dabichan, Section of Anatomy, Department of Basic Medical Sciences, University of the West Indies, Kingston KIN7, Jamaica
Shaneeta Johnson, Department of Surgery, Morehouse School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA 30310, United States
Author contributions: Cawich SO, Gardner MT, Shetty R, Louboutin JP and Johnson S designed the research; Cawich SO, Gardner MT and Shetty R performed the research; Cawich SO, Gardner MT and Shetty R wrote the paper; Shetty R, Louboutin JP and Johnson S contributed analytic tools; Shetty R, Louboutin JP and Dabichan Z analyzed the data.
Conflict-of-interest statement: There are no conflicts of interest to declare for any of the authors.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Shamir O Cawich, FACS, Professor, Department of Surgery, University of the West Indies, St. Augustine Campus, St Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago. socawich@hotmail.com
Received: January 20, 2024
Revised: February 6, 2024
Accepted: March 18, 2024
Published online: June 20, 2024
Processing time: 150 Days and 12.1 Hours
Abstract

Traditional descriptions of liver anatomy refer to a smooth, convex surface contacting the diaphragm. Surface depressions are recognized anatomic variants. There are many theories to explain the cause of the depressions. We discuss the theory that these are caused by hypertrophic muscular bands in the diaphragm.

Keywords: Liver; Anatomy; Depressions; Fissure; Groove; Sulcus; Variant

Core Tip: Surface depressions of the liver are a recognized anatomic variant Transillumination is a method that is useful to evaluate the association with hypertrophic muscular bands in the diaphragm. Using this technique, we determined that hypertrophic bands are associated with surface depressions in 67% of cases. Diaphragmatic muscular bands play a prominent role in the formation of surface depressions.