Right ascending lumbar vein
Vena lumbalis ascendens dextra
A longitudinal vein on the right side of the lumbar vertebrae that connects the lumbar veins and ends by forming the azygos vein.
At a glance
- English
- Right ascending lumbar vein
- Latin (TA2)
- Vena lumbalis ascendens dextra
- System
- Vein
- Region
- Trunk
- Side
- Single, on the midline
About the right ascending lumbar vein
The right ascending lumbar vein is a slender vertical channel on the posterior abdominal wall. It runs up beside the lumbar vertebral bodies, behind psoas major and in front of the transverse processes, where it is hidden until the muscle is lifted.
It commonly starts below from the right common iliac vein. Along its course each right lumbar vein, coming back around the vertebral body from the muscles and skin of the loin, opens into it or is linked to it, so the ascending lumbar vein joins the segments together. Small channels pass from it through the intervertebral foramina to the venous plexuses of the spinal canal.
At the upper end, level with the twelfth rib, it meets the right subcostal vein. Together they form the azygos vein, which enters the thorax through the aortic hiatus or through the right crus of the diaphragm. The azygos then climbs on the right of the thoracic vertebral bodies, arches over the root of the right lung and drains into the superior vena cava.
This arrangement provides a link between the territories of the two venae cavae. When the inferior vena cava is obstructed, for example by thrombosis or a tumour, the ascending lumbar veins enlarge and carry blood from the lower limbs and pelvis to the azygos vein and so to the superior vena cava. The same connections, together with the vertebral plexuses, offer a route for the spread of disease to the vertebrae. In anterior and lateral approaches to the lumbar spine the vein lies close to the field and needs to be identified.
Course and drainage
- Begins at
- Usually from the right common iliac vein, near the lower lumbar vertebrae.
- Drains into
- Unites with the right subcostal vein at the level of the twelfth rib to form the azygos vein.
- Drains
- Joins the right lumbar veins together and links the inferior caval drainage with the azygos vein.
Anthromica
See the right ascending lumbar 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.
