Presentation
Incidental finding during CT imaging for abdominal pain and exclusion of acute appendicitis.
Patient Data
Age: 35 years
Gender: Male
From the case:
Beaver tail liver (CT)
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There is an elongated left lobe of the liver, which extends to the left hypochondrium to completely surround the collapsed stomach and the anterolateral spleen.
The liver is otherwise normal.
The appendix is normal and the rest of the CT scan is unremarkable.
Case Discussion
A beaver tail left lobe of the liver, representing a normal hepatic anatomical variant. This may confuse sonographic and CT appearances on occasion and lead to a misdiagnosis of hepatomegaly, splenomegaly or splenic trauma (haematoma or haemorrhage)1.
Awareness of the variant will prevent unnecessary further imaging or treatment.
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