The vertebral vein is formed in the

suboccipital triangle The suboccipital triangle is a region of the neck bounded by the following three muscles of the suboccipital group of muscles: * Rectus capitis posterior major - above and medially * Obliquus capitis superior - above and laterally * Obliquus capit ...

, from numerous small tributaries which spring from the

internal vertebral venous plexuses The internal vertebral venous plexuses (intraspinal veins) lie within the vertebral canal in the epidural space, and receive tributaries from the bones and from the spinal cord. They form a closer network than the external plexuses, and, running m ...

and issue from the

vertebral canal The spinal canal (or vertebral canal or spinal cavity) is the canal that contains the spinal cord within the vertebral column. The spinal canal is formed by the vertebrae through which the spinal cord passes. It is a process of the dorsal body ca ...

above the posterior arch of the

atlas An atlas is a collection of maps; it is typically a bundle of maps of Earth or of a region of Earth. Atlases have traditionally been bound into book form, but today many atlases are in multimedia formats. In addition to presenting geographic ...

. They unite with small veins from the deep muscles at the upper part of the back of the

neck The neck is the part of the body on many vertebrates that connects the head with the torso. The neck supports the weight of the head and protects the nerves that carry sensory and motor information from the brain down to the rest of the body. In ...

, and form a vessel which enters the foramen in the transverse process of the atlas, and descends, forming a dense plexus around the

vertebral artery The vertebral arteries are major arteries An artery (plural arteries) () is a blood vessel in humans and most animals that takes blood away from the heart to one or more parts of the body (tissues, lungs, brain etc.). Most arteries carry o ...

, in the canal formed by the transverse foramina of the upper six

cervical vertebrae In tetrapods, cervical vertebrae (singular: vertebra) are the vertebrae of the neck, immediately below the skull. Truncal vertebrae (divided into thoracic and lumbar vertebrae in mammals) lie caudal (toward the tail) of cervical vertebrae. In ...

. This plexus ends in a single trunk, which emerges from the transverse foramina of the sixth cervical vertebra, and opens at the root of the neck into the back part of the

innominate vein The left and right brachiocephalic veins (previously called innominate veins) are major veins in the upper chest, formed by the union of each corresponding internal jugular vein and subclavian vein. This is at the level of the sternoclavicular jo ...

near its origin, its mouth being guarded by a pair of valves. On the right side, it crosses the first part of the

subclavian artery In human anatomy, the subclavian arteries are paired major arteries of the upper thorax, below the clavicle. They receive blood from the aortic arch. The left subclavian artery supplies blood to the left arm and the right subclavian artery supplie ...

Additional images

File:Gray384.png, Section of the neck at about the level of the sixth cervical vertebra.

References

Veins of the head and neck Veins of the torso {{circulatory-stub