Description

This video provides a comprehensive overview of the veins of the lower limb, including their classification, deep and superficial systems, and key anatomical features.

1. Vein Classification

• Superficial System: Veins located in subcutaneous tissue; do not accompany arteries.
• Deep System: Veins accompanying arteries, usually in pairs.

2. Deep Veins of the Lower Limb

Thigh:

• Femoral Vein: Originates from the external iliac vein and runs medially to the femoral artery.
• Deep Vein of the Thigh: Collects blood from the internal and posterior surfaces of the thigh.
• Popliteal Vein: Continuation of the femoral vein, located in the popliteal fossa.

Leg:

• Anterior Tibial Vein: Originates from the popliteal vein and runs anteriorly.
• Posterior Tibial Vein: Also originates from the popliteal vein and runs posteriorly.
• Fibular Vein (Peroneal Vein): Descends behind the fibula and drains into the posterior tibial vein.

3. Veins of the Foot

• Dorsal Veins: Drain the dorsal side of the foot into the anterior tibial vein.
• Plantar Veins: Medial and Lateral Plantar Veins form the Deep Plantar Venous Arch.
• Deep Plantar Metatarsal and Digital Veins: Drain into the plantar venous arch.

4. Superficial Veins

• Great Saphenous Vein: Runs along the medial side of the leg and thigh, draining into the femoral vein.
• Small Saphenous Vein: Located at the posterior side of the leg and drains into the popliteal vein.
• Accessory Saphenous Veins: Tributaries that drain into the great saphenous vein.
• Superficial Epigastric Vein: Drains the anterior abdominal wall.
• Superficial Circumflex Iliac Vein: Drains the area around the anterior superior iliac spine.
• External Pudendal Vein: Drains external genitalia.

5. Dorsal Venous Network of the Foot

A network of superficial veins that drains the dorsal side of the foot and connects to the great and small saphenous veins.

6. Veins Included in This Video

• Deep System of Veins:
  • Femoral Vein
  • Deep Vein of the Thigh
  • Popliteal Vein
  • Anterior Tibial Vein
  • Posterior Tibial Vein
  • Fibular Vein (Peroneal Vein)
  • Dorsal Venous Arch of the Foot
  • Dorsal Veins of the Foot
  • Dorsal Digital Veins
  • Dorsal Metatarsal Veins
  • Medial Plantar Vein
  • Lateral Plantar Vein
  • Deep Plantar Venous Arch
  • Deep Plantar Metatarsal Veins
  • Deep Plantar Digital Veins
• Superficial Veins:
  • Great Saphenous Vein
  • Accessory Saphenous Veins
  • Superficial Epigastric Vein
  • Superficial Circumflex Iliac Vein
  • External Pudendal Vein
  • Small Saphenous Vein
  • Dorsal Venous Network of the Foot
  • Medial Marginal Vein
  • Lateral Marginal Vein

Sources Used:

• Memorix Anatomy (2nd Edition) – Hudák Radovan, Kachlík David, Volný Ondřej.
• Complete Anatomy by 3D4Medical.
• Biorender.
• University Notes and Lectures.

Transcript

Introduction
0:00
What’s up.
0:03
Meditay Here.
0:04
Let’s talk about the veins of the lower limb.
Division
0:07
In order to structurize the veins of the lower limb, we generally divide them into 2 systems.
0:13
Simply, the superficial system and the deep system.
0:16
The deep system consists of veins that accompany arteries.
0:20
These are usually two veins, and they go together with the arteries.
0:23
The superficial system consists of veins in the subcutaneous tissue.
0:28
They’re unique for the venous system, so they don’t go with any arteries.
0:32
Simple, right?
0:34
Now let’s expand on this and start with the Deep system of veins first.
Deep Veins of the Lower Limb
0:38
To make this easier, I’ll go ahead and divide the veins again into the veins of the thigh,
0:43
the veins of the leg, and the veins of the foot.
0:46
The first vein we’re going to see in the thigh region is the femoral vein.
0:51
The femoral vein comes from the external Iliac Vein, at the region of the inguinal ligament
0:57
just as it passes the vascular space.
0:59
Then it descends medially to the femoral artery.
1:04
Then we got the Deep vein of the thigh, as you see here.
1:07
The deep vein of the thigh lies deep on the posterior side of the thigh, so it collects
1:13
blood from the Internal and posterior surface of the thigh, as you see here.
1:18
Once it collects all the blood, it empties them mainly into the femoral vein.
1:24
The next vein is a continuation of the femoral vein, called the popliteal vein.
1:29
Very similar to the arterial system.
1:32
So as you see here, it’s located in the popliteal fossa and then goes up to the adductor canal
1:39
as the femoral vein.
1:41
Distally, it becomes the anterior and the posterior tibial veins, but these are veins
1:47
of the legs, so let’s go ahead and look at that.
1:49
So the main veins here are the anterior and the posterior tibial veins, which both come
1:55
from the popliteal vein.
1:57
So the popliteal vein splits and becomes these two veins.
2:02
I tried to be creative here, but keep in mind that the posterior tibial veins lie on the
2:08
posterior part of the leg and the anterior tibial vein on the anterior side.
2:13
The third deep vein you’ll find in this region is the paired fibular vein, which descends
2:19
behind the fibula.
2:20
As you see here, the deep fibular vein is a tributary of the posterior tibial vein.
2:26
So the Posterior Tibial Veins descend and turn to the sole of the foot behind the medial
2:32
malleolus Now keep in mind you can always go more detailed
2:36
than what I’m showing you, but I want you all to gain a general picture of the veins
2:40
of the lower limb to ease you all up on this topic.
2:43
So to review.: The posterior tibial vein lies posterior to
2:49
the medial malleolus in the ankle and ascends.
2:53
The Fibular vein lies posterior to the Lateral malleolus in the ankle.
2:58
It ascends to empty into the posterior tibial vein.
3:02
So these two are posterior.
3:05
The anterior tibial vein lies on the anterior side.
3:09
It originates and receives blood from the dorsal venous arch on the back of the foot
3:16
and then ascends to empties into the popliteal vein.
3:19
Alright, I hope this made a little sense.
3:23
Let’s now go ahead and do the veins of the foot.
3:26
These veins are very similar to arteries, and we’ll divide those into the dorsum of
3:31
the foot and the sole of the foot.
3:34
On the dorsum of the foot – And now I’m only covering the deep veins or the most profound
3:39
veins.
3:40
You’ll find the dorsal veins of the foot.
3:43
These veins drain a network of superficial veins on the dorsal side of the foot and pump
3:49
the blood into the anterior tibial vein.
3:52
And remember, these deep veins always go together with their corresponding arteries.
3:57
So the dorsal veins of the foot go together with the dorsal artery of the foot, or the
4:02
dorsalis pedis artery.
4:04
Then, just like the arteries, we got the dorsal digital, draining the toes, and the dorsal
4:11
metatarsal veins, draining the metatarsals and structures around this region, and they
4:15
pump the blood into the dorsal veins of the foot
4:18
This will make a little more sense in a minute, I promise.
4:21
On the sole of the foot, the posterior tibial veins will split into the medial and the lateral
4:27
plantar veins, as you see here.
4:30
And they will form the deep plantar venous arch, as you see here.
4:34
And the deep venous plantar arch will receive blood from the deep plantar metatarsal and
4:40
the deep plantar digital veins.
4:43
It’s kinda straightforward at this point, isn’t it?
Superficial Veins of the Lower Limb
4:46
Let’s now go ahead and cover the superficial veins of the lower limb.
4:49
And remember, they lie superficially, and they lack corresponding arteries.
4:54
So these are special for the venous system.
4:56
And the first one is the great saphenous vein, as you see here.
5:01
It passes on the medial side of the foot, in front of the medial malleolus, then continues
5:06
on the medial side of the calf.
5:08
On the thigh, it passes through the saphenous hiatus in the fascia lata and then empties
5:14
into the femoral vein.
5:16
Now, this is a thick vein, so it has tributaries.
5:19
And the first ones are the accessory saphenous veins, as you see here.
5:24
These veins drain the superficial parts of the thigh into the great saphenous vein.
5:29
Then we got a vein that drains the anterior wall of the abdominal cavity, the superficial
5:35
epigastric vein.
5:36
We got the Superficial Circumflex Iliac vein, which passes along the inguinal ligament and
5:42
drains the region around the anterior superior iliac spine
5:47
And then we got the external pudendal vein.
5:50
This one is external, so it mainly drains the external genitals, so superficial parts
5:55
of the testes and the penis for men, and the superficial parts of the labials and clitoris
6:00
for women.
6:01
Alright, so that was the great saphenous.
6:04
Now since we have a great saphenous, we gotta have a small saphenous vein as well, and this
6:10
one goes mainly behind the leg, as you see here.
6:13
Better represented here in purple.
6:15
It ascends along the posterior side of the lower leg.
6:19
It opens up into the popliteal vein, so it mainly drains this area.
6:23
It also has some accessory branches communicating with the greater saphenous vein.
6:28
Awesome.
6:29
Now next, we got the dorsal venous network of the foot.
6:33
This one is relatively straightforward.
6:35
It’s just a network of superficial veins on the dorsum of the foot.
6:41
It drains the skin and the subcutaneous tissue of the dorsal side of the foot, and it forms
6:47
an arch called the Dorsal venous arch of the foot.
6:51
Now what’s unique with this arch is that This arch form the great saphenous and the
6:57
small saphenous veins.
6:59
And it does that through the medial and the lateral marginal veins.
7:03
As you see here.
7:04
So the medial marginal vein starts off at the dorsal venous arch.
7:08
Then it passes along the medial margin of the foot, on the dorsal side, and then it
7:13
continues as the great saphenous vein.
7:16
The lateral marginal vein also starts off at the dorsal venous arch but then passes
7:21
along the lateral margin of the foot and continues as the small saphenous vein.
7:26
So that was all the essential veins you need to know regarding the venous drainage of the
7:30
lower limb.
7:31
Remember that the deep ones go together with arteries, and the superficial ones are special
7:36
for the venous system.
7:37
Now the following video will be about the portal venous system.
7:41
If you found this video helpful, I’d really appreciate it if you comment, like, and subscribe.
7:45
See you next time.