Description

This video provides an overview of the anatomy of the common, external, and internal iliac veins, their tributaries, and their roles in the vascular system.

1. Common Iliac Vein

• Formed by the confluence of the internal and external iliac veins at the level of L4-L5 vertebrae.
• No valves present in the common iliac veins.
• Tributaries:
  • Ascending Lumbar Vein: Anastomoses with azygos and hemiazygos veins.
  • Median Sacral Vein: Drains into the left common iliac vein.
  • Iliolumbar Veins: May drain into the internal iliac vein.

2. External Iliac Vein

• Continuation of the common femoral vein starting at the inguinal ligament.
• Tributaries:
  • Inferior Epigastric Vein: Drains the anterior abdominal wall, anastomoses with the superior epigastric vein.
  • Deep Circumflex Iliac Veins: Collect blood from the iliac region.

3. Internal Iliac Vein

Divided into two divisions with parietal and visceral tributaries.

• Parietal Tributaries:
  • Superior and Inferior Gluteal Veins: Drain gluteal muscles.
  • Obturator Vein: Drains medial thigh muscles.
  • Lateral Sacral Veins: Form the sacral venous plexus.

• Visceral Tributaries:
  • Rectal Venous Plexus: Drained by superior, middle, and inferior rectal veins.
  • Vesical Venous Plexus: Drains the urinary bladder.
    • Male: Fuses with the prostatic venous plexus.
    • Female: Surrounds the bladder and drains the urethra.
  • Uterine and Vaginal Venous Plexuses: Drain reproductive organs in females.
  • Internal Pudendal Vein: Drains various structures near the pelvis.

4. Veins Included in This Video

• Common Iliac Vein
• External Iliac Vein
• Internal Iliac Vein
• Inferior Vena Cava
• Ascending Lumbar Vein
• Azygos Vein
• Hemiazygos Vein
• Median Sacral Vein
• Iliolumbar Veins
• Inguinal Ligament
• Inferior Epigastric Vein
• Superior Epigastric Vein
• Deep Circumflex Iliac Vein
• Superior Gluteal Vein
• Inferior Gluteal Vein
• Obturator Vein
• Lateral Sacral Vein
• Sacral Venous Plexus
• Rectal Venous Plexus
• Superior Rectal Vein
• Middle Rectal Vein
• Inferior Rectal Vein
• Internal Pudendal Vein
• Vesical Venous Plexus
• Prostatic Venous Plexus
• Deep Dorsal Vein of the Penis
• Dorsal Vein of the Clitoris
• Uterine Venous Plexus
• Vaginal Venous Plexus

Sources Used:

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

Transcript

Introduction
0:02
All right, guys, so now that we are done with the Inferior vena cava, let us go ahead and
0:07
cover the anatomy of the common, external, and internal iliac veins!
Content
0:11
And we’re going to do that by breaking down their topography, visceral tributaries, and
0:16
parietal tributaries.
0:17
So, let us start with the common iliac vein.
Common Iliac Vein
0:20
The common iliac veins originate at the confluence of the internal and external iliac veins;
0:27
confluence means where veins meet.
0:29
So, it is formed when these two veins meet.
0:32
And when the common iliac veins meet at the level of the vertebra L4-L5, they form the
0:38
Inferior Vena Cava.
0:41
And lastly, the common iliac veins have no valves.
0:44
You know I say this a lot, but usually, veins have valves to prevent the backflow of blood.
0:50
These large veins don’t have any valves.
0:53
Alright so the first tributary of the common iliac vein is the ascending lumbar vein.
0:58
The right ascending lumbar vein will anastomose with the Azygos vein, while the left one will
1:03
anastomose with the hemiazygos vein.
1:05
Then we got the median sacral vein.
1:08
This is an unpaired vein, which opens into the left common iliac vein, as you see here.
1:13
Them, we got the iliolumbar veins, as you see here.
1:17
They collect blood from the regions supplied by the iliolumbar artery.
1:21
A known variation of this vein is that sometimes you might find the iliolumbar veins opening
1:27
into the internal iliac vein instead of the common iliac veins.
1:31
So that was all I had for the common iliac veins.
External Iliac Vein
1:34
So let’s now go ahead and do the external iliac veins.
1:37
Now the external iliac vein is the continuation of the common femoral vein.
1:42
It starts at the level of the inguinal ligament within the vascular space.
1:46
So our first tributary is the inferior epigastric vein.
1:52
Now the inferior epigastric vein starts at the umbilicus region, draining the anterior
1:57
abdominal wall.
2:00
It goes together with the inferior epigastric artery, and its peripheral part is doubled.
2:06
Then, in the upper direction, it anastomoses with the superior epigastric vein of the internal
2:13
thoracic vein, as you see here.
2:15
Then we got the deep circumflex iliac veins, as you see here.
2:19
They collect blood from the iliac region and the adjacent abdominal wall.
2:24
And keep in mind that their peripheral part is doubled as well.
2:27
So that was the common iliac and the external iliac veins.
2:31
Pretty straightforward, these two.
2:32
And I’ll try to show you that the internal iliac vein is relatively straightforward,
Internal Iliac Vein
2:36
too, so let’s go ahead and change our model to a more specific one.
2:41
So as the internal iliac vein descends, it splits into two divisions, and the tributaries
2:48
of these two divisions are divided into two types of tributaries
2:53
We got the parietal tributaries draining bones and muscle and the visceral tributaries draining
2:59
organs and soft tissue.
Parietal Tributaries of Internal Iliac Vein
3:01
Let’s do the parietal tributaries first and then do the visceral ones.
3:05
So the first two parietal tributaries are the Superior gluteal vein and the Inferior
3:10
gluteal vein, which, as you know by now from the gluteal arteries, will go back towards
3:15
the booty muscles.
3:16
The superior one will mainly drain the gluteus medius and minimus and the tensor fasciae
3:22
latae, while the inferior one will mainly drain the gluteus maximus.
3:27
Then we got the obturator vein, which drains the medial compartment of the thigh muscles.
3:33
Then we have the lateral sacral veins, which ascend along the sacral bone.
3:38
Together with the median sacral vein, they form a plexus called the sacral venous plexus,
3:44
which drains adjacent structures like the abdominal muscles and pelvic lymphatic nodes.
3:49
Then lastly, as we mentioned earlier, the iliolumbar veins might also open into the
3:55
internal iliac vein.
3:56
So it either opens into the common iliac or the internal iliac vein.
4:05
And here, you see a more correct visual presentation of the veins.
4:10
We see the Superior and inferior gluteal veins, the Obturator veins, the lateral sacral veins,
4:17
and the iliolumbar veins.
4:19
So that was all I had for the parietal tributaries of the internal iliac vein.
4:24
Let’s now do the Visceral tributaries!
4:26
To make this as comprehensive as possible, I’ve divided the visceral tributaries into
4:31
male, female, and other common veins.
Visceral Tributaries of Internal Iliac Vein
4:35
And I wanna use these two models to represent the structures drained by these veins.
4:40
So that’ll make it easier to remember them.
4:43
So first, we got the external and the internal rectal venous plexus, or simply the rectal
4:49
venous plexus.
4:50
They lie in the rectum’s posterior and lateral walls and are drained in three directions,
4:56
as you see here.
4:57
We got the superior rectal vein, which drains the upper part of the plexus into the inferior
5:02
mesenteric vein.
5:05
The right and left middle rectal veins drain the middle part of the plexus directly to
5:09
our internal iliac vein.
5:12
And the right and left inferior rectal vein which drains the lower part of the plexus
5:17
via the internal pudendal vein and then drains into the internal iliac vein.
5:25
Then we got the vesical venous plexus, which is a plexus that drains the urinary bladder
5:30
primarily.
5:31
And this one drain different structures in male and female.
5:35
In males, it’s fused with the prostatic venous plexus.
5:39
They receive tributaries from the deep dorsal vein of the penis.
5:45
Blood will flow into the prostate venous plexus and then into the vesical venous plexus, and
5:50
then the internal iliac vein.
5:52
In females, the vesical venous plexus surrounds both the fundus of the bladder and the urethra,
5:59
unlike in males, where the plexus is mainly located on the basal part of the bladder.
6:04
Here, it will drain the female urethra and the upper part of the vagina.
6:08
It will also receive blood from surrounding tributary veins like the dorsal vein of the
6:13
clitoris, as you see here.
6:15
Then in females, we got two plexuses called the uterine venous plexus, which drains the
6:21
uterus and the fallopian tubes, and the vaginal venous plexus, which drains structures associated
6:26
with the vagina.
6:27
Then lastly, we got the internal pudendal vein, which starts as either the deep vein
6:34
of the penis or the deep vein of the clitoris.
6:37
On its way to the internal iliac, it drains various structures nearby, like the bulb of
6:43
the penis in males and the bulb of the clitoris in females.
6:46
It also drains the urethra, the perineum, and the inferior part of the rectum as well.
6:53
So that was all for the tributary veins of the internal iliac vein.
6:57
Let’s quickly recap them.
6:58
First, we got the common iliac and the internal iliac vein.
7:02
There’s the lateral sacral vein, the superior gluteal vein, and the inferior gluteal vein,
7:08
and we got the obturator vein.
7:10
As for the visceral tributaries, we got the rectal venous plexus, we got the vesical venous
7:16
plexus, we got the internal pudendal vein, and the plexuses associated with female called
7:22
the vaginal and the uterine venous plexus, and a plexus in male called the prostatic
7:27
plexus which fuses with the vesical plexus.
Ending
7:30
So that was all I had for the topography and the tributaries of the iliac veins.
7:35
The next video will be about the venous drainage of the lower limb.
7:39
If you found this video helpful, please put a like, share or comment.
7:42
Whatever you find convenient to you.
7:44
See you next time.
Venous Anatomy