Vertebral vein

The vertebral vein is formed in the suboccipital triangle, from numerous small tributaries which spring from the internal vertebral venous plexuses and issue from the vertebral canal above the posterior arch of the atlas.

Vertebral vein
The vertebral vein. (Vertebral labeled at upper left and center right.)
Details
SourceDeep cervical vein
Drains toBrachiocephalic vein
ArteryVertebral artery
Identifiers
LatinVena vertebralis
TAA12.3.04.012
FMA4727
Anatomical terminology

They unite with small veins from the deep muscles at the upper part of the back of the neck, and form a vessel which enters the foramen in the transverse process of the atlas, and descends, forming a dense plexus around the vertebral artery, in the canal formed by the transverse foramina of the upper six cervical vertebrae.

This plexus ends in a single trunk, which emerges from the transverse foramina of the sixth cervical vertebra, and opens at the root of the neck into the back part of the innominate vein near its origin, its mouth being guarded by a pair of valves.

On the right side, it crosses the first part of the subclavian artery.

Additional images
  • Section of the neck at about the level of the sixth cervical vertebra.
gollark: Anyway, see, I basically just want to get everything unlocked so I can go back to designing ridiculous bizarre things like my immortal but extremely energy-wasteful beings.
gollark: Well, I half-remember my solutions from before, you see.
gollark: I have something which gets about halfway to the goal, then mysteriously dies out.
gollark: I played cell lab ages ago and am now trying to unlock everything again, stuck on "deception".
gollark: I do, but it's currently unusable.

References

This article incorporates text in the public domain from page 649 of the 20th edition of Gray's Anatomy (1918)


This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.