THE ABDOMEN 



743 



on the left of the duct. WTien the vessel arrives at the right 

 extremity of the portal fissure of the liver it presents a slight en- 

 largement, called the portal sinus, and then divides into two 

 branches, right and left, the former being the larger and shorter of 

 the two. The right branch, having received the cystic vein, enters 

 the right lobe of the liver. The left branch, having trav^ersed the 

 portal fissure from right to left, and furnished branches to the 

 quadrate and Spigelian lobes, crosses the longitudinal fissure, and 



Fig. 319. — ^Vena Port/E and its Tributaries. 



enters the left lobe. As it crosses this fissure it is joined in front 

 by the round ligament of the liver, which is the remains of the 

 umbilical vein of foetal life. Posteriorly, and slightly to the right 

 of this point, it is connected with the fibrous cord which represents 

 the foetal ductus venosus. The vena portae near the pj'lorus receives 

 the pyloric and gastric veins. The distinctive character of the 

 vessel is that it behaves like an artery, its blood ultimately entering 

 the intralobular plexuses in the liver. 

 The sources from which the vein receives its blood are as follows : 



