Fibular veins
Venae fibulares
Paired deep veins of the leg that accompany the fibular artery close to the fibula and empty into the posterior tibial veins.
At a glance
- English
- Fibular veins
- Latin (TA2)
- Venae fibulares
- System
- Vein
- Region
- Foot
- Side
- Paired, left and right
About the fibular veins
The fibular veins, also called the peroneal veins, are deep veins of the leg. Like most deep veins below the knee they come as a pair of venae comitantes, running on either side of their artery, the fibular artery, and joined to each other by short cross-links that wrap around it. They lie deep in the back of the leg, in the posterior compartment close to the medial crest of the fibula, under cover of flexor hallucis longus and tibialis posterior.
The veins begin near the ankle, behind the lateral malleolus, where they receive small veins from the heel and the lateral ankle and communicate with the posterior tibial and anterior tibial systems. As they climb they collect blood from the muscles around them, from the fibula and from the peroneal muscle compartment, which has no named deep vein of its own. They also receive large veins from the soleus muscle, whose venous sinuses empty into them, and perforating veins that link them with the superficial veins.
In the upper part of the leg the fibular veins join the posterior tibial veins, usually forming a short common trunk, sometimes called the tibiofibular trunk. This unites with the anterior tibial veins at the lower border of popliteus to form the popliteal vein behind the knee. Valves along the veins keep blood moving towards the heart, aided by the squeezing action of the calf muscles during walking.
Together with the soleal veins, the fibular veins are among the commonest sites where a deep vein thrombosis starts in the calf. A clot here may extend upwards into the popliteal and femoral veins, and fragments can travel to the lungs. Calf ultrasound for suspected thrombosis therefore always examines them, often alongside the posterior tibial veins.
Course and drainage
- Begins at
- Begin near the lateral malleolus from veins of the heel and ankle, accompanying the fibular artery up the leg.
- Drains into
- Join the posterior tibial veins in the upper leg, the combined trunk then forming the popliteal vein with the anterior tibial veins.
- Drains
- Drain the deep muscles of the posterior compartment, the fibula, the lateral (fibular) leg compartment and much of the soleus.
Anthromica
See the fibular veins where it really sits, with every layer of the body around it.
- Every layer, one body. Peel from muscle to bone, nerve, vessel and organ, and turn it any way.
- English and Latin. Every structure named the way your exam names it.
- Quiz until it sticks. Short drills on the structures you keep missing.
Free to start. No card.
