My watch list
my.bionity.com  
Login  

Cephalic vein



Vein: Cephalic vein
Superficial veins of the upper limb.
Cross-section through the middle of upper arm. (Cephalic vein labeled at upper left.)
Latin vena cephalica
Gray's subject #172 661
Source dorsal venous network of hand
Drains to axillary vein, median cubital vein
Artery deltoid branch of thoracoacromial artery
Dorlands/Elsevier v_05/12849786

In human anatomy, the cephalic vein is a superficial vein of the upper limb.

It communicates with the basilic vein via the median cubital vein at the elbow and is located in the superficial fascia along the anterolateral surface of the biceps brachii muscle.

Superiorly the cephalic vein passes between the deltoid and pectoralis major muscles (deltopectoral groove) and through the deltopectoral triangle, where it empties into the axillary vein.

It is often visible through the skin, and its location in the deltopectoral groove is fairly consistent, making this site a good candidate for cannulation.

Additional images

 
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Cephalic_vein". A list of authors is available in Wikipedia.
Your browser is not current. Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0 does not support some functions on Chemie.DE