| Cantlie line | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Details | |
| Part of | Liver |
| Anatomical terminology | |
Inhuman anatomy, theCantlie line orCantlie's line is an imaginary division of theliver. The division divides the liver into two planes, extending from the middlehepatic vein to the middle of thegallbladder. It is useful for performinghepatectomies.
The division divides the liver into two planes. It extends from the middlehepatic vein (or theinferior vena cava) to the middle of thegallbladder.[1][2]
UsingCouinaud's classification system, segments two, three, and both parts of four are on the left side of the division, while segments five, six, seven, and eight are on the right.
Cantlie's line is useful when performinghepatectomies.[3]
It was first described by Scottish surgeonJames Cantlie in 1887 when he noticed a difference in the amount ofatrophy on both sides of this line of the liver while performing anautopsy.[2] He concluded that the line dividing the atrophied segment from the hypertrophied segment must be the true midline of the liver.[2] This opposed the more commonly accepted opinion that the umbilical fissure divided the liver.[2] Theportal vein was already known to divide near theporta hepatis, as described by Francis Glisson inAnatomia hepatis, but Cantlie was the first to propose that the liver could be functionally divided into separate, distinct left and right halves. This was confirmed later in experiments done by Rous and Larimore in 1920[4] and by Schalm in 1956.[5] Though this discovery was made in 1897, the first clinical portal vein occlusions did not occur until 1982.[6]