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Log in Sign up. Articles Cases Courses Quiz. About Recent Edits Go ad-free. Edit article. View revision history Report problem with Article. Citation, DOI and article data. Hacking, C. Median cubital vein. In fact, if you lined up all the arteries , veins , and capillaries , they would stretch for almost , miles.
It can be tricky to distinguish one vessel from the next—especially with the naked eye—but some parts of the vascular system stand out more than others. The median cubital vein is one of them. The median cubital vein, also known as the median basilic vein, is located in the triangular area inside the elbow known as the cubital fossa. It is a superficial vein, meaning that it lies close to the skin, making it a preferred site for drawing blood and establishing intravenous access.
The median cubital vein is a part of the circulatory system. Arteries, veins, and capillaries work together to carry blood, oxygen, nutrients, and waste products throughout the body. Arteries carry oxygen-rich blood to tissues, while veins carry blood that is depleted of oxygen and nutrients back to the heart and lungs to be replenished with more oxygen.
Capillaries join the two together. The median cubital vein is the most prominent superficial vein in the body, and can easily be seen in most people at the inner fold of the elbow.
It connects the basilic and cephalic veins , the two primary veins of the upper limb that carry blood from the hand, forearm, and arm back to the heart.
Like most veins, the median cubital vein is made up of several layers of membranes, muscles, and connective tissues, including:.
These layers work together to push deoxygenated blood from tissues all over the body back to the lungs. In the lungs, the blood is replenished with oxygen, then carried to the heart, and pumped back out to the body through arteries. The median cubital vein connects the two major superficial veins in each arm:. Both of these vessels eventually empty into the axillary vein. The median cubital vein runs upward diagonally from the cephalic to the basilic vein at the inner part of the elbow.
It lies about 2—3 mm below the surface of the skin. The median cubital vein variably forms as either an H- or M- shaped pattern. While an upward diagonal configuration of the median cubital vein between the basilic and cephalic veins is considered standard, one study claims only about half of adults have this configuration. In other people, the basilic or cephalic vein may run in a different pattern, sometimes eliminating the connecting median cephalic vein altogether.
While cases of an absent median cephalic vein are rare, it is sometimes seen in both men and women. There also have been cases where people have two median cubital veins, but there is a lack of studies to determine how common this variation might be. The function of all veins in the arm is the same—to return deoxygenated blood back to the pulmonary system for replenishment. The basilic vein carries the most blood back to the lungs, and the median cubital vein helps facilitate drainage between the basilic and cephalic veins.
The median cubital vein is not critical to life, but it does help facilitate venous return from the arms back to the pulmonary system.
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