Object numberGC.9081
DescriptionLiver with the spleen and pancreas, the duodenum laid open, and the stomach, showing malformation of the bile ducts. From a male aged 4 months who was slightly jaundiced at birth and though the colour became progressively darker, even to a mahogany tint, it varied in intensity. The infant at first gained a few pounds in weight. The liver, enlarged to the umbilicus, latterly became smaller, from increasing fibrosis. The spleen was palpable in the left hypochondrium where it projected below the costal margin. Death was due to bronchopneumonia. On post mortem examination the intestinal contents were clay-coloured and there were many enlarged lymph nodes in the mesentery.
The bile-ducts and the neighbouring parts on the inferior aspect of the liver have been partly dissected. There is no common bile-duct, no cystic duct and no gall-bladder. In the porta hepatis a cherry-sized cystic swelling, indicated by a white glass rod, apparently represents the termination of the bile-duct system. The portal vein is normal in position. The hepatic artery arises from the superior mesenteric instead of from the coeliac artery. The liver is firm, of a deep green colour, and the surface has a shagreen appearance.
Object nameBILE DUCT
Object categoryAnatomical, specimen