Posterior tibial veins
Venae tibiales posteriores
Paired deep veins of the back of the leg that accompany the posterior tibial artery from the ankle up to the popliteal fossa.
At a glance
- English
- Posterior tibial veins
- Latin (TA2)
- Venae tibiales posteriores
- System
- Vein
- Region
- Foot
- Side
- Paired, left and right
About the posterior tibial veins
The posterior tibial veins are a pair of venae comitantes, deep veins that wrap around an artery and travel with it. They lie with the posterior tibial artery and the tibial nerve in the deep posterior compartment of the leg, beneath soleus and the deep transverse fascia, on tibialis posterior and flexor digitorum longus. At the ankle the bundle sits behind the medial malleolus, under the flexor retinaculum, between the tendons of flexor digitorum longus and flexor hallucis longus.
They begin where the two plantar veins, medial and lateral, meet behind the medial malleolus, so they collect the deep blood of the whole sole. Climbing the leg they take in veins from the deep calf muscles and from the soleal venous sinuses, the large thin-walled veins inside soleus. Near the top of the leg they usually receive the fibular veins, and at the lower border of popliteus they join the anterior tibial veins to make the popliteal vein.
The medial ankle perforators, often called the Cockett perforators, connect the posterior arch vein of the superficial system to the posterior tibial veins in the lower third of the leg. Their valves normally let blood pass only from superficial to deep, and contraction of the calf then drives it upwards. When these valves fail, high pressure in the deep veins is transmitted outwards during each step.
That reversal explains why venous skin changes and ulcers gather just above the medial malleolus. The posterior tibial veins are also a common site for deep vein thrombosis that starts in the calf, and they are examined with compression ultrasound when a clot is suspected.
Course and drainage
- Begins at
- Formed behind the medial malleolus by the union of the two plantar veins, medial and lateral.
- Drains into
- Join the anterior tibial veins at the lower border of popliteus to form the popliteal vein, usually after receiving the fibular veins.
- Drains
- Drain the sole of the foot and the deep calf muscles, including soleus.
Anthromica
See the posterior tibial 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.
