Skip to content
EasyAnatomyLab
Menu

Anterior tibial vein: anatomy, location and function

The anterior tibial veins are paired veins accompanying the anterior tibial artery. They drain the front compartment of the leg and the dorsum of the foot.

Loading 3D model…
Skin0%
Muscles100%

Structures

Loading… Click the model or search.

Highlighted in the model: Anterior tibial vein. Click any part to read about it, or switch off “Highlight topic” to see the whole body. 3D data: BodyParts3D, © The Database Center for Life Science, CC BY 4.0; meshes simplified and recoloured. The model is an adult male.

Anterior tibial vein at a glance

What it is
The anterior tibial veins are paired veins accompanying the anterior tibial artery.
Location
They begin as continuations of the dorsalis pedis veins on the front of the ankle, ascend on the interosseous membrane, pass back through the gap above it and unite with the posterior tibial veins to form the popliteal vein.
Function
They drain the front compartment of the leg and the dorsum of the foot.
Body system
Cardiovascular · paired (left and right)
FMA ID
FMA44337 (Foundational Model of Anatomy)

Key facts

  • They are deep veins, so clots in them count as deep vein thrombosis.

Structures next to the anterior tibial vein

The nearest named structures in the 3D model, measured from the centre of each part:

References

  1. Foundational Model of Anatomy: Anterior tibial vein (FMA44337). EMBL-EBI Ontology Lookup Service.
  2. OpenStax. Anatomy and Physiology 2e, §20.1 Structure and Function of Blood Vessels. Rice University, 2022.
  3. Mitsuhashi N. et al. (2009). BodyParts3D: 3D structure database for anatomical concepts. Nucleic Acids Research 37, D782–D785. Data © The Database Center for Life Science, CC BY 4.0.

Explore the whole body in the interactive 3D human anatomy model, or browse the A–Z list of human structures.