2. Most if not all of the normal liver is concealed by the
right rib cage and is beyond the feel of the examiner's
hand
The normal liver is smooth, with no irregularities
3.
4.
5.
6.
7. When the liver can be felt, it is usually due
to:
(1) increased diaphragmatic descent ;
(2) presence of a palpable caudate or Riedel's lobe ;
(3) presence of emphysema with an associated depressed
diaphragm;
(4) thin body habitus with narrow thoracic cage ;
(5) fatty infiltration (enlarged with rounded edge) ;
(6) active hepatitis (enlarged and tender) ;
(7) cirrhosis (enlarged with nodular irregularity)
(8) hepatic neoplasm (enlarged with rock-hard or nodular
consistency) .
(9) Congested whether with blood or bile.
8. Liver span
It is vertical distance
between uppermost
and lower most
points of liver
dullness-in Rt mid
clavicular line-
Normal-12-15 cm
9. Determining the liver size is considered to be the
“simplest” and “cheapest” liver function test and,
chronologically speaking, it is also the “first”
10. The liver is enlarged
Size, edge, surface,
consistency, tender,
bruit or pulsatile