Playboy bunny sign

Excerpt

“Playboy bunny sign” describes the appearance of dilated hepatic veins and intrahepatic inferior vena cava (IVC) in congestive heart failure on abdominal ultrasound [1, 2]. The word “Bunny” is used to describe the young rabbit informally (Fig. 1). In passive hepatic congestion, the dilated IVC and dilated hepatic veins mimic the head and ears of a bunny (Fig. 2). It was originally called as “Playboy bunny sign” in 1983 by Bartrum and Crow to describe the confluence of hepatic veins with IVC in normal subjects [3]. ‘Playboy Bunny’’ refers to the waitress in the famous playboy clubs who wore bunny suits. Other names for this appearance include moose’s head and Deer’s horns sign [2]. Although ‘Playboy Bunny’ was originally described for the appearance of normal hepatic venous confluence, it is now being used to denote the dilated hepatic veins at the confluence typically seen in passive hepatic congestion.

…