System of inferior vena cava

The lower vena cava (v. Cava inferior) is the largest, has no valves, is retroperitoneal. It begins at the level of the intervertebral disc between the IV and V lumbar vertebrae from the fusion of the left and right common iliac veins to the right and slightly below the division of the aorta into the same arteries. First, the lower hollow vein should be up the front surface of the right large lumbar muscle. Located to the right of the abdominal part of the aorta, the lower hollow vein passes behind the horizontal part of the duodenum, behind the head of the pancreas and the root of the mesentery. Then the vein lies in the same groove of the liver, taking the hepatic veins. After leaving the furrow passes through its own opening of the tendon center of the diaphragm into the posterior mediastinum of the thoracic cavity, penetrates into the pericardial cavity and, being covered with the epicardium, flows into the right atrium. In the abdominal cavity behind the inferior vena cava there are the right sympathetic trunk, the initial sections of the right lumbar arteries and the right renal artery.

There are parietal and visceral tributaries of the inferior vena cava. Parietal inflows are formed in the walls of the abdominal cavity and pelvic cavity. Visceral tributaries carry blood from internal organs.

Parietal tributaries:

1. Lumbar veins (vv. Lumbales, only 3-4) are formed in the walls of the abdominal cavity. Their course and the areas from which they collect blood correspond to the branching of the lumbar arteries. Often the first and second lumbar veins fall into an unpaired vein, and not into the inferior vena cava. The lumbar veins of each side anastomose with each other using the right and left ascending lumbar veins. In the lumbar veins, spinal veins flow from the vertebral venous plexuses through the spinal veins.
2. The lower diaphragmatic veins (vv. Phrenicae inferiores), right and left, adjoin two to the same arteries, flow into the lower hollow vein after its exit from the same sulcus of the liver.

Visceral tributaries:

1. Ovarian (ovarian) vein (v. Testicularis s. Ovarica) paired, begins at the posterior edge of the testicle (at the gates of the ovary) with numerous veins that braid the same artery, forming a plexus pampiniformis. In men, the lobular plexus is part of the spermatic cord. Fusing with each other, small veins form on each side one venous trunk. The right ovarian (ovarian) vein falls at an acute angle into the inferior vena cava, slightly below the right renal vein. The left ovarian (ovarian) vein at right angles into the left renal vein.
2. Renal vein (v. Renalis) is a pair, goes from the kidneys in the horizontal direction (in front of the renal artery). At the level of the intervertebral disc between the I and II lumbar vertebrae, the renal vein flows into the lower vena cava. The left renal vein is longer than the right, passes in front of the aorta. Both veins anastomose with the lumbar, as well as with the right and left ascending lumbar veins.
3. The adrenal vein (v. Suprarenalis) exits the adrenal gland. This is a short valveless vessel. The left adrenal vein flows into the left renal vein, and the right - into the inferior vena cava. Part of the superficial adrenal veins flows into the inflows of the inferior vena cava (into the lower diaphragmatic, lumbar, renal veins), and the other part into the inflows of the portal vein (into the pancreatic, splenic, gastric veins).
4. Hepatic veins (vv. Hepaticae, only 3-4) are short, located in the liver parenchyma (the valves in them are not always expressed). They fall into the inferior vena cava in the place where it lies in the furrow of the liver. One of the hepatic veins (often right) before the confluence of the inferior vena cava is connected to the venous ligament of the liver - overgrown venous duct functioning in the fetus.