Posterior auricular vein
Vena auricularis posterior
A scalp vein that descends behind the ear and joins the retromandibular vein to form the external jugular vein.
At a glance
- English
- Posterior auricular vein
- Latin (TA2)
- Vena auricularis posterior
- System
- Vein
- Region
- Head
- Side
- Paired, left and right
About the posterior auricular vein
The posterior auricular vein drains the side of the head behind the ear. It begins in a plexus on the side of the scalp that is continuous with the branches of the occipital vein behind and the superficial temporal vein in front, so the scalp veins form one connected network.
From this plexus the vein runs downwards behind the auricle, superficial to the mastoid process, with the posterior auricular artery close by. Below the ear it meets the hinder branch of the retromandibular vein, near the lower end of the parotid gland, and the junction of the two forms the external jugular vein. It is thus one of the two roots of that vessel.
Its tributaries include veins from the back of the auricle and the stylomastoid vein, which comes out through the stylomastoid foramen with the facial nerve and drains the middle ear region. It may also receive the occipital vein when that vein takes its less common course towards the external jugular. When the external jugular vein is small or absent, the posterior auricular vein may instead end in the internal jugular or in a posterior external jugular vein.
The vein has a role in reconstructive surgery. Skin from the area behind the ear and over the mastoid can be raised as a flap based on the posterior auricular vessels, and keeping this vein within the flap preserves its drainage. Surgeons also meet it in operations on the ear and mastoid, and it is close to the great auricular nerve and the lymph nodes behind the ear.
Course and drainage
- Begins at
- Begins in a plexus on the side of the head that communicates with the occipital and superficial temporal veins.
- Drains into
- Unites below the ear with the retromandibular vein's posterior division to form the external jugular vein.
- Drains
- Drains the scalp behind the ear, the back of the auricle and, through the stylomastoid vein, the region of the middle ear.
Anthromica
See the posterior auricular 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.
