Spinal veins

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Vein: Spinal veins
1: posterior spinal vein
2: anterior spinal vein
3: posterolateral spinal vein
4: radicular (or segmental medullary) vein
5: posterior spinal arteries
6: anterior spinal artery
7: radicular (or segmental medullary) artery
Latin venae spinales
Gray's subject #172 669
Dorlands
/ Elsevier
    
v_05/12851730

The veins of the medulla spinalis (spinal veins, veins of the spinal cord) are situated in the pia mater and form a minute, tortuous, venous plexus.

They emerge chiefly from the median fissures of the medulla spinalis and are largest in the lumbar region.

In this plexus there are:

  • (1) two median longitudinal veins, one in front of the anterior fissure, and the other behind the posterior sulcus of the cord.
  • (2) four lateral longitudinal veins which run behind the nerve roots.

They end in the intervertebral veins.

Near the base of the skull they unite, and form two or three small trunks, which communicate with the vertebral veins, and then end in the inferior cerebellar veins, or in the inferior petrosal sinuses.

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This article was originally based on an entry from a public domain edition of Gray's Anatomy. As such, some of the information contained herein may be outdated. Please edit the article if this is the case, and feel free to remove this notice when it is no longer relevant.