Abstract
Portal circulation transfers deoxygenated venous blood to the liver, which is rich in nutrients from the gastrointestinal tract and also from unpaired organs within the abdominal cavity (i.e. from the spleen, pancreas and gall bladder). Under normal circumstances is the minute volume of blood passing through the liver almost one fourth of the cardiac output.
Seventy percent of blood flows to the liver through the portal vein (v. portae, VP), the rest through the hepatic artery.