Popliteal vein
Vena poplitea
The deep vein behind the knee, formed by the tibial veins and continuing upwards as the femoral vein.
At a glance
- English
- Popliteal vein
- Latin (TA2)
- Vena poplitea
- System
- Vein
- Region
- Lower limb
- Side
- Paired, left and right
About the popliteal vein
The popliteal vein forms at the lower border of popliteus, where the anterior tibial veins, which have come back through the top of the interosseous membrane, join the posterior tibial veins. From there it climbs through the popliteal fossa, the diamond-shaped space behind the knee, and leaves it through the adductor hiatus in adductor magnus. Above that opening it is called the femoral vein.
Within the fossa it lies between the popliteal artery, which is deepest, and the tibial nerve, which is most superficial. Low in the fossa it lies medial to the artery; as it ascends it crosses behind the artery, so that near the top it lies lateral to it. The artery and vein are wrapped together in a tight fibrous sleeve. The vein contains several valves.
Its tributaries include veins matching the genicular and muscular branches of the popliteal artery, the gastrocnemius and soleal veins, and the small saphenous vein, which pierces the roof of the fossa, coming up between the heads of gastrocnemius, to end in it. The fibular veins usually reach it by way of the posterior tibial veins. The vein is often doubled for part or all of its length.
The popliteal vein is examined routinely with compression and Doppler ultrasound, since thrombosis here is deep vein thrombosis that can lead to pulmonary embolism. Rarely the vein is compressed by an abnormal slip or position of gastrocnemius, a condition called popliteal vein entrapment; it causes swelling, aching and sometimes venous ulcers, and is investigated with venography or magnetic resonance imaging and treated by releasing the compressing tissue. A popliteal cyst can also press on the vein.
Course and drainage
- Begins at
- Formed at the lower border of popliteus by the union of the anterior and posterior tibial veins.
- Drains into
- Passes through the adductor hiatus to become the femoral vein.
- Drains
- Drains the leg and foot, the knee joint and the calf muscles, and receives the small saphenous vein.
Anthromica
See the popliteal vein 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.
