ABSTRACT
The liver is a highly complex organ found only in vertebrates that is responsible for over 500 individual functions. Liver development begins at 3–4 weeks’ gestation when a hepatic foregut diverticulum buds into the ventral wall of the primitive midgut. The liver is covered by visceral peritoneum, with a layer of connective tissue, the Glisson capsule, underneath. The porta hepatis is a pronounced transverse fissure on the visceral surface of the liver running between the cephalad end of the fissure for the ligamentum teres and the gallbladder fossa. The liver comprises approximately 100 000 hexagonal functional units known as lobules with a central vein surrounded by six hepatic portal veins and six hepatic arteries. These vessels are connected by capillary-like tubes called sinusoids, which extend to meet the central vein. Acute liver failure is the development of sudden, severe hepatic dysfunction from an acute insult associated with the onset of hepatic encephalopathy and coagulation abnormalities.
