Falciform ligament

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
Latin	ligamentum falciforme hepatis
Gray's	subject #250 1192
From
To
Dorlands/Elsevier	l_09/12492233

The falciform ligament is a ligament which attaches the liver to the anterior body wall. It is a broad and thin antero-posterior peritoneal fold, falciform (Latin "sickle-shaped") in shape, its base being directed downward and backward, its apex upward and backward.

Is a remnant of the ventral mesentery of the fetus.

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.

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.

External links

• SUNY Labs 37:04-0100 - "Abdominal Cavity: The Falciform Ligament of the Liver"
• SUNY Labs 38:12-0205 - "The Visceral Surface of the Liver"
• SUNY Anatomy Image 8373
• liver at The Anatomy Lesson by Wesley Norman (Georgetown University)
• falciform+ligament+of+liver at eMedicine Dictionary
• Cross section at UV pembody/body8a

This article was originally based on an entry from a public domain edition of Gray's Anatomy. As such, some of the information contained herein may be outdated.

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