The great saphenous vein and its tributaries at the fossa ovalis.
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|Latin
|colspan="2"|v. saphena magna
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|[[List of subjects in Gray's Anatomy:173#Gray.27s_page_.23|Gray's]]
|colspan="2"|[subject #173 ]
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|Drains from
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|Drains to
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|Artery
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|MeSH
|colspan="2"|[A07.231.908.819]
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|Dorlands/Elsevier
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The great saphenous vein, also greater saphenous vein, is the large (subcutaneous) superficial vein of the leg and thigh.
At the ankle it receives branches from the sole of the foot through the medial marginal vein; in the leg it anastomoses freely with the small saphenous vein, communicates with the anterior and posterior tibial veins and receives many cutaneous veins; in the thigh it communicates with the femoral vein and receives numerous tributaries; those from the medial and posterior parts of the thigh frequently unite to form a large accessory saphenous vein which joins the main vein at a variable level.
Near the fossa ovalis it is joined by the superficial epigastric, superficial iliac circumflex, and superficial external pudendal veins.
A vein, named the thoracoepigastric, runs along the lateral aspect of the trunk between the superficial epigastric vein below and the lateral thoracic vein above and establishes an important communication between the femoral and axillary veins.
The great saphenous vein is the conduit of choice for vascular surgeons,Muhs BE, Gagne P, Sheehan P. Peripheral arterial disease: clinical assessment and indications for revascularization in the patient with diabetes. Curr Diab Rep. 2005 Feb;5(1):24-9. PMID 15663913.Mamode N, Scott RN. Graft type for femoro-popliteal bypass surgery. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2000;(2):CD001487. PMID 10796649. when available, for doing peripheral arterial bypass operations because it has superior long-term patency compared to synthetic grafts (PTFE, PETE (Dacron®)) and human umbilical vein grafts. Often, it is used in situ (in place), after tying off smaller tributaries and stripping the valves with a device called LeMaitre's valvulotome.
The saphenous nerve runs along side of the great saphenous vein and is not infrequently damaged in surgeries that that make use of the similarly named venous conduit.
