Illustrated Encyclopedia of Human Anatomic Variation: Opus II: Cardiovascular System

Venous Drainage of Hand and Forearm.

Ronald A. Bergman, PhD
Adel K. Afifi, MD, MS
Ryosuke Miyauchi, MD
Peer Review Status: Internally Peer Reviewed

A: Dorsal venous arch. In 82% of 300 individuals a large vein passed proximally from the center of the concavity of the dorsal venous arch to terminate in 65% in the cephalic vein, and in the remaining 17% in the basilic vein.

B: The oblique vein. In 47% of individuals the authors found a large well-marked vein issuing from the ulnar end of the dorsal venous arch, and passing obliquely proximally and radially across the dorsal surface of the wrist to terminate in the cephalic vein.

C, D, E: An accessory cephalic vein was found to arise in the ulnar end of the dorsal venous arch in about 28% (A). The accessory cephalic vein arises from variable sources but was present in 82% of the 300 cases: in 39% as some small venous radicles in the distal part of the dorsal surface of the forearm; in 28% arising from the dorsal venous arch; in 16% arising from the cephalic vein at a point where the vein turns round the radial border of the forearm (C, D, E).

The median cubital vein was present in 84%, and in 43% it received, as a tributary, the median antebrachial vein. In 4% it arose from the cephalic vein usually at about the middle of the forearm.

The authors found the median cubital vein duplicated or doubled in 4% of their 300 cases (C). In addition, they reported duplication of the median antebrachial vein (E).

Redrawn from Berry, R.J.A. and H.A.S. Newton. A study of the superficial veins of the superior extremity in 300 living subjects. Anat. Anz. 33:591-602, 1908.

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