Palmar digital veins

At a glance

English

Palmar digital veins

Latin (TA2)

Venae digitales palmares

System

Vein

Region

Upper limb

Side

Paired, left and right

About the palmar digital veins

The palmar digital veins, also known as volar digital veins, drain the front surfaces of the fingers. Each finger has a pair, running near its borders. Some descriptions divide them into proper palmar digital veins, which lie distally along the sides of a single finger, and common palmar digital veins, which lie more proximally in the palm and serve the facing sides of two adjacent fingers.

In the fingers the superficial veins on the palmar side are small, because the skin there is thick, closely bound to the underlying fibrous tissue and squeezed every time the hand grips. Much of the blood from the finger pads is instead routed towards the back. Oblique intercapitular veins join each palmar digital vein to the veins on the back of the finger; they pass between the heads of the metacarpal bones and carry blood onto the back of the hand.

The common palmar digital veins also accompany the common palmar digital arteries and open into the superficial venous palmar arch. From there blood can pass to the ulnar and radial veins and so up the deep veins of the forearm. The digital veins therefore feed both the deep system in the palm and the superficial system on the dorsum.

These anastomoses mean that pressing on the palm during gripping pushes blood out towards the back of the hand, a simple pump that helps venous return from the hand. The fingertips are also richly supplied with arteriovenous shunts that let blood bypass the capillaries, and the veins of the finger pads help carry that flow during heat loss.

Course and drainage

Begins at

Begin in the pads and palmar skin of each finger.

Drains into

Drain through intercapitular veins to the dorsal digital veins and, as common palmar digital veins, into the superficial venous palmar arch.

Drains

Drain the palmar surfaces of the fingers.