Magnetic resonance imaging of the liver by frontal (coronal) sections.

In general, frontal sections of the liver in magnetic resonance imaging are used less than sections passing through other planes of space. Frontal sections of the trunk in magnetic resonance imaging involving the liver, performed in over 80 patients for various reasons, were compared with frontal sections of the trunk made in 10 cadavers. A general schema was established of the anatomy of the liver studied in the frontal plane. Frontal sections in magnetic resonance imaging make it possible to form a very good estimate of the structure and size of the liver, and to recognize individual variations. They clearly show certain inferior relations of the liver. In particular, frontal sections in magnetic resonance imaging make it possible to identify most of the main veins of the liver, the main lobar veins and branches of the portal vein, and to properly study the entire retrohepatic portion of the inferior vena cava. Some of the vascular images were found almost constantly in the sections of the various subjects. The right lobe of the liver is more accessible to such study than the left by reason of its structure and its venous arrangements. Frontal sections of the liver in magnetic resonance imaging constitute a preferential method for studying the anatomy of the liver. Together with transverse sections, they make it possible to specify the site and venous relations of a pathologic process within the liver, with a view to hepatectomy.