The liver is located in the upper right part of the abdomen, directly under the diaphragm and behind the lower right ribs. Most of it lies to the right of the midline. A smaller left lobe crosses under the breastbone and ends about 5 cm to the left. It is the largest gland in the body. Gray's Anatomy puts its adult weight at about 1.2 to 1.6 kg (2.6 to 3.5 lb).
Where the liver sits, in plain terms
The SEER training modules of the US National Cancer Institute place the liver just beneath the diaphragm, mainly in the right hypochondriac and epigastric regions. Those are the upper right and upper middle squares of the nine abdominal regions. The institute's liver cancer page describes the organ as filling the upper right side of the abdomen inside the rib cage.
A Dartmouth medical textbook, Basic Human Anatomy, adds that the liver lies largely to the right of the midline, and in some people entirely. None of these references places the liver on the left side. The upper left is filled by the stomach and the spleen, two of the organs on the left side of the body.
The 3D organ finder shows the liver in place on a 3D body, with the organs around it.
Which ribs cover the liver
Gray's Anatomy (1918 edition) traces the outline of the liver on the chest wall, rib by rib:
- The top edge crosses the midline where the body of the breastbone meets its lower tip, the xiphoid process.
- On the right it rises to the fifth rib cartilage, in line with the nipple. It then drops to the seventh rib at the side of the chest.
- On the left it ends at the sixth rib cartilage, 5 cm from the midline.
- The lower edge runs 1 cm lower than the right rib margin as far as the ninth rib cartilage. From there it slants up across the upper belly to the eighth rib cartilage on the left.
Through the diaphragm, the front of the liver faces ribs 6 to 10 on the right. At the back it lies behind the right ribs from the seventh to the eleventh. The organ is 10 to 12.5 cm deep, so it belongs to the front and the back of the body alike. The fifth to tenth ribs can be picked out on the 3D skeleton.
A three-point way to mark the outline
Gray's also gives a shorter method, credited to Birmingham. Mark three points: 1.25 cm under the right nipple, 1.25 cm under the tip of the tenth rib, and 2.5 cm under the left nipple. Three gently curved lines joining those points give the outline of a normal liver.
The outline moves
The liver moves with each breath, and its position varies with the diaphragm and with body type (Basic Human Anatomy). Gray's notes that the lower edge generally matches the rib margin in adult men. In women and children it usually reaches lower than the ribs.
Liver size and weight
| Measure | Figure | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Weight, patient reference | About 1.4 kg (3.1 lb) | InformedHealth.org (IQWiG) |
| Weight, men | 1.4 to 1.6 kg | Gray's Anatomy, 1918 |
| Weight, women | 1.2 to 1.4 kg | Gray's Anatomy, 1918 |
| Autopsy mean, men 18 to 35 | 1,561 g (range 838 to 2,584 g) | Molina and DiMaio, 2012 |
| Autopsy mean, women 18 to 35 | 1,288 g (range 775 to 2,395 g) | Molina and DiMaio, 2015 |
| Width, side to side | 20 to 22.5 cm | Gray's Anatomy, 1918 |
| Height, at the right side | 15 to 17.5 cm | Gray's Anatomy, 1918 |
| Depth, front to back | 10 to 12.5 cm | Gray's Anatomy, 1918 |
| Diameter on ultrasound | Mean 14.0 cm (range 9.4 to 21.3 cm) | Kratzer and others, 2003 |
InformedHealth is the patient site of the German institute IQWiG. Its 1.4 kg (3.1 lb) sits inside the ranges Gray's gives, and Gray's splits the figure by sex.
Two forensic studies by Molina and DiMaio give measured weights. They weighed the organs of healthy adults aged 18 to 35 who had died suddenly from injuries: 232 men and 102 women. The mean liver weight was 1,561 g (3.4 lb) in the men and 1,288 g (2.8 lb) in the women. Both means fall inside the ranges Gray's printed in 1918.
Single livers varied far more than the means suggest. The authors proposed reference ranges of 968 to 1,860 g for men and 603 to 1,767 g for women.
In living adults, an ultrasound survey of 2,080 people measured the liver's diameter along the midclavicular line. That is a vertical line through the middle of the collarbone. The average was 14.0 cm (5.5 in): 14.5 cm in men and 13.5 cm in women. Only 239 of the 2,080 livers (11.5 percent) measured more than 16 cm.
The lobes of the liver
Seen from the front, the liver has two lobes: a large right lobe and a much smaller left lobe. Gray's puts the right lobe at six times the size of the left. The falciform ligament, a fold that ties the liver to the front wall of the abdomen, marks the line between them.
Two smaller lobes show on the underside: the quadrate lobe toward the front and the caudate lobe toward the back. Gray's places both on the right lobe. SEER counts two major lobes and two smaller ones. Both counts describe the same organ, which is why some references say two lobes and others say four.
A second way to divide the liver follows its blood vessels and bile ducts, and it matters in surgery. Basic Human Anatomy describes right and left functional lobes. The plane between them runs from the gallbladder to the groove of the inferior vena cava.
What sits next to the liver
| Side of the liver | Neighbor |
|---|---|
| Top and front | Diaphragm, with the right lung and the heart on its far side |
| Under the right lobe | Gallbladder, right bend of the colon, right kidney, right adrenal gland, duodenum |
| Under the left lobe | Stomach |
| Back | Diaphragm, inferior vena cava, spine |
The gallbladder is 7 to 10 cm long and lies in a hollow on the underside of the right lobe. Its rounded end reaches the surface behind the tip of the ninth right rib cartilage (Gray's). The organ locator can open the 3D view on the gallbladder.
The right kidney sits lower than the left because the liver displaces it (SEER, Gray's). Gray's says the hepatogastric ligament ties the liver to the inner curve of the stomach, the lesser curvature.
Can you feel your liver?
Usually not. MedlinePlus is the health site of the US National Library of Medicine. It says the lower edge of the liver normally comes just to the lower edge of the right ribs. It cannot be felt with the fingertips under the rib edge, except during a deep breath. MedlinePlus adds that a liver a health care provider can feel in that area may be enlarged.
Where liver pain is felt
The US National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) describes liver discomfort in one place: the upper right side of the abdomen. It lists mild pain or discomfort over the liver there as a possible early symptom of cirrhosis. It also says nonalcoholic fatty liver disease usually causes few or no symptoms, and that any discomfort is felt in the upper right abdomen.
The gallbladder shares that area, and NIDDK places gallbladder attack pain in the upper right abdomen too. Pain there does not point to one organ, so it needs a doctor or nurse to examine it.