Falciform Ligament and the Bare Area

Expansion

The liver is almost entirely covered by peritoneum, except for:

• The bare area - on the posterosuperior surface, bounded by the layers of the coronary ligament, lying directly against the diaphragm
• The porta hepatis and the gallbladder fossa
• The groove for the inferior vena cava

The falciform ligament runs from the anterior abdominal wall to the liver, dividing the subphrenic space into right and left compartments, hence “right subphrenic abscess”.

Two consequences:

• The bare area allows direct spread of infection or tumour between the liver and the diaphragm and pleura, without crossing the peritoneal cavity, a route for amoebic abscess to rupture into the chest
• It is also a site of portosystemic anastomosis, between hepatic portal branches and phrenic veins

The falciform ligament’s free edge carries the ligamentum teres, the remnant of the umbilical vein.