Inferior vein of left ventricle
Vena inferior ventriculi sinistri
A vein on the diaphragmatic surface of the left ventricle that drains into the coronary sinus at the back of the heart.
At a glance
- English
- Inferior vein of left ventricle
- Latin (TA2)
- Vena inferior ventriculi sinistri
- System
- Heart
- Region
- Trunk
- Side
- Single, on the midline
About the inferior vein of left ventricle
The inferior vein of the left ventricle collects blood from the wall of the left ventricle where it rests on the diaphragm. In older terminology, still common in textbooks, it is called the posterior vein of the left ventricle; the current name reflects the fact that this surface of the heart faces down rather than back in the body.
It begins over the lower part of the left ventricle, between the apex and the left margin, and runs upwards across the diaphragmatic surface roughly parallel to the inferior interventricular groove but to its left. It ends by opening into the coronary sinus, the wide venous channel lying in the atrioventricular groove behind the heart. Sometimes it opens instead into the end of the great cardiac vein just before that vein becomes the sinus. It may be a single vessel or two or three smaller ones.
Along its course it receives small tributaries from the inferior and inferolateral parts of the ventricular wall. It lies in the territory supplied by the circumflex artery and the inferolateral branches of the right coronary artery, so it drains a region fed by both systems. Like other cardiac veins it has little or no valve tissue except at its opening.
The cardiac veins draining into the coronary sinus matter in cardiology because they give access to the outer surface of the left ventricle from inside the venous system. A pacing lead for cardiac resynchronisation therapy is passed through the coronary sinus into a vein such as this one or the left marginal vein, so that the left ventricle can be stimulated from its surface.
Function and supply
- Begins at
- Small veins on the diaphragmatic surface of the left ventricle, between the apex and the left margin.
- Ends at
- Opens into the coronary sinus, or occasionally into the end of the great cardiac vein.
- Function
- Drains the inferior and inferolateral wall of the left ventricle.
Anthromica
See the inferior vein of left ventricle 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.
