The vertebral vein is formed in the
suboccipital triangle, from numerous small tributaries which spring from the
internal vertebral venous plexuses and issue from the
vertebral canal above the posterior arch of the
atlas
An atlas is a collection of maps; it is typically a bundle of world map, maps of Earth or of a continent or region of Earth. Advances in astronomy have also resulted in atlases of the celestial sphere or of other planets.
Atlases have traditio ...
.
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 in many vertebrates that connects the head to the torso. It supports the weight of the head and protects the nerves that transmit sensory and motor information between the brain and the rest of the body. Addition ...
, 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 artery, arteries of the neck. Typically, the vertebral arteries originate from the subclavian arteries. Each vessel courses superiorly along each side of the neck, merging within the skull to form the single, m ...
, in the canal formed by the transverse foramina of the upper six
cervical vertebrae
In tetrapods, cervical vertebrae (: 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 saurop ...
.
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 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.
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
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