Anatomy study note · Lower limb

Great saphenous vein

The long superficial vein of the medial side of the lower limb, from the medial end of the dorsal venous arch to the femoral vein.

Key points

• In front of the medial malleolus (cutdown site).
• Joins the femoral vein at the saphenous opening, 4 cm below-lateral to the pubic tubercle.
• Perforators: superficial → deep (valves).
• Coronary bypass graft.
• Vessels: mesodermal, from angioblastic tissue.
• Varicose veins: incompetent valves, usually leg.
• Vein: thin wall, adventitia thickest, valves.

The full note in the atlas also covers

Course · Tributaries · Histology · Development · Clinical notes

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Written from

• Snell’s Clinical Anatomy by Regions, 10th ed., ch. 11, PDF pp. 1292–1298, 1385
• Inderbir Singh’s Human Embryology, ch. 15, PDF p. 236
• BRS Cell Biology & Histology, 7th ed., ch. 11, PDF pp. 203–205, 205

More from the lower limb

• Hip joint
• Inguinal lymph nodes
• Interossei of the foot
• Joints of the forefoot and toes
• Knee joint
• Menisci of the knee
• Metatarsal bones
• Patella
• Pectineus
• Phalanges of the foot
• Plantar aponeurosis
• Plantar arteries

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