Our focus has been to study and compare the anatomical helical computed tomography (CT) features of the normal rabbit liver with its native cross-sectional anatomy. Helical CT was used for scanning the cranial part of the abdominal cavity. The slice thickness was 5 mm. Frozen transversal anatomic cross-sections with a thickness of 10 mm were obtained from the cranial abdominal part of 4 animals following euthanasia. They were compared with the corresponding helical CT scans. At Th9 (thoracic vertebra), the helical CT images showed in the whole aspect a normal liver. It was a massive, heterogeneous, soft tissue, with normal attenuating findings and distinguished edges. The gallbladder was hypoattenuated compared to the liver parenchyma. At the level of Th11 the liver was in sharp distinction to the fundus and body of the stomach. At Th12 the rabbit liver was found in close contact with the stomach, duodenum, and ascending colon. Only the right hepatic lobe was visible at the level of Th13, outlined by the right kidney impression. The right hepatic and caudate lobe were observed at L1 (lumbar vertebra). The frozen cross-sections have analogues to the corresponding helical CT images. That motivated us to conclude that helical CT is an accurate mode for studying the rabbit liver anatomy.

No abstract