Falciform ligament

Falciform ligament
The superior surface of the liver. ("Attachment of falciform ligament" is white band to the left.)
1: Right lobe of liver 2: Left lobe of liver 3: Quadrate lobe of liver 4: Round ligament of liver 5: Falciform ligament 6: Caudate lobe of liver 7: Inferior vena cava 8: Common bile duct 9: Hepatic artery 10: Portal vein 11: Cystic duct 12: Hepatic duct 13: Gallbladder
Details
Identifiers
Latin	ligamentum falciforme hepatis
Dorlands /Elsevier	l_09/12492233
TA	A10.1.02.303
FMA	15823
*Anatomical terminology* [edit on Wikidata]

The falciform ligament is a ligament that attaches the liver to the anterior (ventral) body wall. It is a broad and thin antero-posterior peritoneal fold, falciform (Latin "sickle-shaped"), its base being directed downward and backward and its apex upward and backward. The falciform ligament droops down from the hilum of the liver.

Structure

It is situated in an antero-posterior plane but lies obliquely, so that one surface faces forward and is in contact with the peritoneum behind the right rectus and the diaphragm, while the other is directed backward and is in contact with the left lobe of the liver.

It is attached by its left margin to the under surface of the diaphragm and the posterior surface of the sheath of the right Rectus as low down as the umbilicus; by its right margin it extends from the notch on the anterior margin of the liver, as far back as the posterior surface.

It is composed of two layers of peritoneum closely united together.

Its base or free edge contains between its layers the round ligament and the paraumbilical veins.

Development

It is a remnant of the umbilical vein of the fetus and a derivative of the embryonic ventral mesentery.

Clinical significance

Becomes canalised if the individual is suffering from portal hypertension. Due to the increase in venous congestion, blood is pushed down from the liver towards the anterior abdominal wall and if blood pools here, will result in periumbilical bruising.

Additional images

The primitive mesentery of a six weeks’ human embryo, half schematic.
Horizontal disposition of the peritoneum in the upper part of the abdomen.
Diagram to show the lines along which the peritoneum leaves the wall of the abdomen to invest the viscera.
Falciform ligament.Superior surface of liver.

External links

Anatomy photo:37:04-0100 at the SUNY Downstate Medical Center - "Abdominal Cavity: The Falciform Ligament of the Liver"
Anatomy photo:38:12-0205 at the SUNY Downstate Medical Center - "The Visceral Surface of the Liver"
Anatomy image:8373 at the SUNY Downstate Medical Center
liver at The Anatomy Lesson by Wesley Norman (Georgetown University)
Cross section image: pembody/body8a - Plastination Laboratory at the Medical University of Vienna

References

This article incorporates text in the public domain from the 20th edition of Gray's Anatomy (1918)

Anatomy of the peritoneum and mesentery

General

Abdominal

From ventral mesentery	Lesser omentum Hepatoduodenal ligament Hepatogastric ligament Liver Coronary ligament (Left triangular ligament Right triangular ligament Hepatorenal ligament) Falciform ligament (Round ligament of liver and Ligamentum venosum in it, but not of it)

From dorsal mesentery	Greater omentum Gastrophrenic ligament Gastrocolic ligament Gastrosplenic ligament Mesentery Transverse mesocolon Sigmoid mesocolon Mesoappendix Root of the mesentery Splenorenal ligament Phrenicocolic ligament Folds Umbilical folds Supravesical fossa Medial inguinal fossa Lateral umbilical fold Lateral inguinal fossa Ileocecal fold

Abdominal cavity	Greater sac Lesser sac Omental foramen

General	Cystohepatic triangle Hepatorenal recess of subhepatic space Abdominal wall Inguinal triangle Peritoneal recesses Paracolic gutters Paramesenteric gutters

Pelvic

Uterus/ovaries	Broad ligament of the uterus Mesovarium Mesosalpinx Mesometrium) Ovarian ligament Suspensory ligament of ovary

Recesses	Male Recto-vesical pouch Pararectal fossa Female Recto-uterine pouch Recto-uterine fold (Uterosacral ligament) Vesico-uterine pouch Ovarian fossa Paravesical fossa Retroperitonium

Spaces

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