The hepatocytes secrete bile into the bile canaliculi formed between them. The canaliculi drain into the small interlobular biliary ducts and then into large collecting bile ducts of the intrahepatic portal triad, which merges to form the hepatic ducts. The right and left hepatic ducts drain the right and left (parts of the) liver, respectively. Shortly after leaving the porta hepatis, these hepatic ducts unite to form the common hepatic duct, which is joined on the right side by the cystic duct to form the bile duct (part of the extrahepatic portal triad of the lesser omentum), which conveys the bile to the duodenum.