Anatomy study note · Head and neck

Internal jugular vein

The large vein draining the brain, scalp, face and neck. It continues the sigmoid sinus at the jugular foramen and joins the subclavian vein behind the medial end of the clavicle to form the brachiocephalic vein.

Key points

• Sigmoid sinus → jugular foramen → carotid sheath → brachiocephalic vein.
• Lateral to the carotids.
• Deep cervical nodes along it.
• IJV: anterior cardinal vein.
• Vein: thin wall, adventitia thickest, valves.
• Veins hold ~70% of the blood.

The full note in the atlas also covers

Relations · Features · Tributaries · Histology · Development

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Written from

• Snell’s Clinical Anatomy by Regions, 10th ed., ch. 12, PDF pp. 1647–1648
• Inderbir Singh’s Human Embryology, ch. 15, PDF p. 264
• BRS Cell Biology & Histology, 7th ed., ch. 11, PDF pp. 203–205

More from the head and neck

• Iris
• Lacrimal apparatus
• Laryngeal membranes and ligaments
• Larynx
• Lateral cricoarytenoid
• Lateral pterygoid
• Lateral rectus
• Lens
• Levator palpebrae superioris
• Levator veli palatini
• Lips and oral cavity
• Longus colli and longus capitis

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