Anterior spinal veins (also known as anterior coronal veins and anterior median spinal veins) are

vein Veins are blood vessels in humans and most other animals that carry blood towards the heart. Most veins carry deoxygenated blood from the tissues back to the heart; exceptions are the pulmonary and umbilical veins, both of which carry oxygenate ...

s that receive blood from the anterior

spinal cord The spinal cord is a long, thin, tubular structure made up of nervous tissue, which extends from the medulla oblongata in the brainstem to the lumbar region of the vertebral column (backbone). The backbone encloses the central canal of the spin ...

Structure

There are two major components to venous draining: the intrinsic vessels which drain first, and the pial veins which drain second. Within the intrinsic vessels are a group of veins known as central veins. These are organized into individual comb-like repetitive structures that eventually fuse together once in the ventral median spinal fissure. After their fusion the group of central veins drains its combined contents into an anterior spinal vein. These veins can infiltrate back into the ventral median spinal fissure previously mentioned by up to a few centimeters. They are also not only smaller in size but more numerous than the equivalent anterior spinal artery which they lie dorsal to. There are three anterior spinal veins in total. These, along with three

posterior spinal veins Posterior spinal veins are small veins which receive blood from the dorsal spinal cord The spinal cord is a long, thin, tubular structure made up of nervous tissue, which extends from the medulla oblongata in the brainstem to the lumbar region ...

, are allowed to communicate with one another as they run interconnected throughout the entire length of the

. This is seen through both sets of veins combining to form a network of

anastomoses An anastomosis (, plural anastomoses) is a connection or opening between two things (especially cavities or passages) that are normally diverging or branching, such as between blood vessels, leaf veins, or streams. Such a connection may be norm ...

around the

conus medullaris ''Conus'' is a genus of predatory sea snails, or cone snails, marine gastropod mollusks in the family Conidae.Bouchet, P.; Gofas, S. (2015). Conus Linnaeus, 1758. In: MolluscaBase (2015). Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species ...

. Together, these two sets of veins also collect blood from intramedullary radial veins as well as other veins. They are drained by the anterior and posterior radicular veins, respectably. Radicular veins appear blue to the naked eye. Next, both radicular veins travel to the epidural space by means of joining 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 ...

. Ultimately, this plexus is able to send and receive information from the veins and sinuses inside the brain. The external vertebral venous plexuses is also available for the internal vertebral venous plexus to communicate with. Anterior spinal veins fall into the intradural network of the vertebral venous system. The intradural network breaks down into the intramedullary and extramedullary systems which are sets of highly reliable veins. This is because they are vastly redundant in what they do and so only fail under exceedingly unfavorable conditions. Their dependability can be compromised, however, by the bridge that connects them. This fragile link across the

dura mater In neuroanatomy, dura mater is a thick membrane made of dense irregular connective tissue that surrounds the brain and spinal cord. It is the outermost of the three layers of membrane called the meninges that protect the central nervous syste ...

of the spine is known as the radiculomedullary veins. Although these veins connect the trustworthy intramedullary and extramedullary veins, they have no support network to protect them and are seen in much fewer numbers by comparison. This may lead to complications such as

thrombosis Thrombosis (from Ancient Greek "clotting") is the formation of a blood clot inside a blood vessel, obstructing the flow of blood through the circulatory system. When a blood vessel (a vein or an artery) is injured, the body uses platelets (thr ...

. For example patients that have spinal dural fistulas can experience venous hypertension caused by thrombosis of these veins.Shapiro, Dr. Maksim. "Spinal Venous Anatomy." Neuroangio. WordPress, n.d. Web. 7 Nov 2012. .

Function

The anterior spinal cord, which makes up 2/3 of the entire spinal cord, gets its blood supply from the

anterior spinal artery In human anatomy, the anterior spinal artery is the artery that supplies the anterior portion of the spinal cord. It arises from branches of the vertebral arteries and courses along the anterior aspect of the spinal cord. It is reinforced by sev ...

. This artery in turn receives its blood from the different radiculospinal branches, which are formed from the

aorta The aorta ( ) is the main and largest artery in the human body, originating from the left ventricle of the heart and extending down to the abdomen, where it splits into two smaller arteries (the common iliac arteries). The aorta distributes ...

and vertebral arteries. As the largest of the radiculospinal artery branches, the Artery of Adamkiewicz provides a large amount of blood to the anterior spinal artery, thereby also supplying a good amount to the anterior spinal cord.

Research

There is a very limited availability to research the spinal venous system as a whole, which in turn leads to an even smaller availability to research the anterior spinal veins. This lack of research is due in great majority to the fact that there is no reliable method of visualizing the system in a

noninvasive Minimally invasive procedures (also known as minimally invasive surgeries) encompass surgical techniques that limit the size of incisions needed, thereby reducing wound healing time, associated pain, and risk of infection. Surgery by definition ...

manner. Although some methods such as an MRI can give off useful information, these stationary glimpses do not show the true actions that take place. The most efficient way to study the spinal venous system along with the anterior spinal veins is to do it postmortem. These types of studies give an effective

anatomical Anatomy () is the branch of biology concerned with the study of the structure of organisms and their parts. Anatomy is a branch of natural science that deals with the structural organization of living things. It is an old science, having its ...

demonstration of how the system works. One of the few major studies of the venous anatomy was conducted by Armin Thron, which can be seen in his published “Vascular Anatomy of the Spinal Cord” from 1988.

References

External links

* https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/bv.fcgi?indexed=google&rid=spinalcord.section.216
Diagram
at nih.gov {{Authority control Veins of the torso