Figure 4.

The hepatic macrovascular trees – hepatic veins (HV), portal vein (PV), and hepatic artery (HA) – were classified according to their diameter‐defined branching topology. For each liver intoxicated with thioacetamide during different weeks (0, 6, 12, and 18 weeks), (A) the mean radius, (B) the mean length, and (C) the number of vessels were measured as a function of the generation number and exponential trend lines were fitted. For the number of vessels, trends lines were fitted based on the first four generations of the PV and HV (and three for the HA). In this way, an inaccuracy of the number of vessels due to under‐segmentation was limited. The trend lines clearly illustrate the impact of cirrhosis on the HV, with mean diameters nearly halving across the first generations due to the mechanical compression of regenerative nodules and fibrous tissue. The HA, on the other hand, dilated with increasing intoxication time. We did not observe any trends during cirrhogenesis for the number of vessels and length as function of the generation number.