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Clinical Anatomy of the Venous System of the Lower Extremity

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PanVascular Medicine

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Abstract

According to recent consensus documents, the veins of the lower limbs can be divided into three groups resident in three different layers, depending on their relationships to the muscular fascia (deep veins), the saphenous fascia (saphenous veins), and the skin (epifascial veins). Deep veins are divided into muscular and axial according to their intramuscular or intermuscular passage. Finally, perforating veins interposed between the deep and superficial veins crossing the deep muscular fascia.

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Abbreviations

Deep veins:

Veins running below the muscular fascia.

Epifascial veins:

Veins running just below the skin, above all the fasciae of the limb.

Interfascial veins:

Veins running between the saphenous fascia and the muscular fascia.

Intermuscular veins:

Veins running in the interstitium of the deep compartment.

Intramuscular veins:

Veins running inside muscle bells.

Perforating veins:

Veins crossing the deep fascia and draining epi- and inter- fascial veins into deep ones.

GSV:

Great saphenous vein

SSV:

Small saphenous vein

TE-SSV:

Thigh extension of the small saphenous vein

AAGSV:

Anterior accessory of the great saphenous vein

ATCV:

Anterior thigh circumflex vein

PTCV:

Posterior thigh circumflex vein

SF:

Saphenous fascia

MF:

Muscular fascia

DF:

Deep fascia

CFV:

Common femoral vein

FV:

Femoral vein

IGV:

Inferior gluteal vein

DFV:

Deep femoral vein

SV:

Sciatic vein

SFJ:

Sapheno-femoral junction

SPJ:

Saphenp-popliteal junction

TV:

Terminal valve

EIV:

External iliac vein

PTV:

Pre-terminal valve

OV:

Perforating vein

VTE:

Venous thromboembolism

References

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Further Reading

  • Caggiati A (1999) Fascial relationships of the long saphenous vein. Circulation 100:2547–2549

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  • Caggiati A, Ricci S (1997) The long saphenous vein compartment. Phlebology 12:106–111

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Anatomy, University “La Sapienza”, Rome, Italy

    Alberto Caggiati

Authors
  1. Alberto Caggiati
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Alberto Caggiati .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Cardiovascular Disease Department of Internal Medicine, Health Care Center Bitterfeld, Bitterfeld-Wolfen, Germany

    Peter Lanzer

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© 2015 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Caggiati, A. (2015). Clinical Anatomy of the Venous System of the Lower Extremity. In: Lanzer, P. (eds) PanVascular Medicine. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-37078-6_158

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-37078-6_158

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-37077-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-37078-6

  • eBook Packages: MedicineReference Module Medicine

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