Anatomy study note · Abdomen

Inferior vena cava

The vein returning most blood from below the diaphragm. It is formed at L5 by the two common iliac veins, ascends to the right of the aorta, pierces the central tendon of the diaphragm at T8, and enters the right atrium.

Key points

• L5 (common iliacs) → T8 (central tendon) → right atrium.
• Right of the aorta.
• Left gonadal and left suprarenal veins go to the left renal vein.
• No gut tributaries (portal system).
• IVC: posterior cardinal + supracardinal + subcardinal + hepatocardiac.
• Venae cavae/pulmonary veins: cardiac muscle in adventitia near the heart.
• Vein: thin wall, adventitia thickest, valves.

The full note in the atlas also covers

Relations · Tributaries · Histology · Development · Clinical notes

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Written from

• Snell’s Clinical Anatomy by Regions, 10th ed., ch. 7, PDF pp. 958–961; ch. 5, PDF p. 650; ch. 6, PDF pp. 723–724
• Inderbir Singh’s Human Embryology, ch. 15, PDF pp. 226, 268, 272
• BRS Cell Biology & Histology, 7th ed., ch. 11, PDF pp. 203–205, 204

More from the abdomen

• Inguinal ligament
• Internal oblique
• Jejunum and ileum
• Kidney
• Large intestine
• Linea alba
• Liver
• Lumbar plexus
• Pancreas
• Peritoneum
• Portal vein
• Psoas major

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