**2.1 Liver and spleen**

Liver is the most commonly injured abdominal organ in both blunt and penetrating trauma. The transducer is first positioned in the sagittal plane, pointer toward the head end of the patient and then in transverse position, and pointer toward the right of the patient. The organ to be examined is to be scanned from medial to lateral and cephalad to caudal. The liver is scanned from subxiphoid region to the left and right. Spleen is located by scanning above the left costal margin.

Hypoechoic areas within the liver parenchyma, which have no flow on color Doppler are likely lacerations or hematoma in the setting of trauma. These lesions can be measured and their extent delineated on ultrasonography. The perimeter of the organ should be scanned for anechoic collection, including sub-diaphragmatic area (**Figure 4**).
