Involution of the left liver in the newborn and its relationship to physiological icterus.

It was recently shown (Emery, 1952) that in approximately a third of children dying within the first few days of birth there was microscopic evidence of degeneration of parenchymal cells in the left physiological lobe of the liver. This change was not seen in stillborn children and was seen with increasing rareness in older children. It was suggested then that the changes were due to cessation of the flow of placental blood through the left liver at birth. The importance of the microscopic changes in the liver should be reflected in gross changes in size of the different lobes of the liver at birth, and the present communication records a study of gross changes in the liver associated with birth.