[Computerized tomography studies of normal morphology and volumetry of parenchymatous epigastric organs in humans].

Variations in the area and dimensions of the liver and spleen in the craniocaudal direction show a similar behaviour despite individual differences in the size and shape of the organs. The liver has its largest areal extent in the upper half of the organ. In the case of the spleen, it is not possible for the largest areal extent to be assigned to a particular region of the organ. The 5-type liver classification of FROMMHOLD and KOISCHWITZ (1982) provided the basis for a study of the frequency distribution of those types among a total of 116 organs. Type 2 (location of the greater part of the liver to the right of the vertebral column) was found to be the most frequent type, whereas type 5 (left lobe of the liver larger than the right one) could not be found. Of the 183 splenic organs included in these studies, 21% showed lobulation and 6%, an accessory spleen. The morphological studies of 334 adrenal glands enabled the most frequent variants of form to be represented summarily. The determination of liver dimensions, which was done on 37 organs, yielded a mean value of 16.6 cm for the craniocaudal extent, 15.5 cm for the dorsoventral extent, and 16.6 cm for the lateromedial extent. From the examinations performed on 38 individuals it was possible to determine a mean value of 11.1 cm for the craniocaudal extent of the spleen, 11.8 cm for the anatomical length of the spleen, 10.4 cm for the width of the spleen, and 4.2 cm for the thickness of the spleen. The mean value of the width of pancreas was 20.5 mm at the head, 19.6 mm at the corpus, and 18 mm at the tail. The mean length of pancreas was of the order of 129 mm. These results were obtained from examinations made on 96 pancreatic organs. Evaluation of a total of 200 computer tomograms yielded mean values of 22 mm for the length. 14 mm for the width, and 5 mm for the leg thickness of the left adrenal gland. The respective mean values obtained for the right adrenal gland were 28 mm, 9 mm, and 4 mm respectively. Determination of the volume of liver on 37 organs yielded a mean value of 1,331 cm3. For the spleen, examinations performed on 38 organs showed the mean volume to be in the order of 169 cm3. For the volume of pancreas, a mean value of 40.4 cm3 was determined.