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Axillary vein: anatomy, location and function

The axillary vein is the main vein of the armpit and carries blood from the upper limb. It drains blood from the upper limb, shoulder and part of the chest wall.

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Highlighted in the model: Axillary 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.

Axillary vein at a glance

What it is
The axillary vein is the main vein of the armpit and carries blood from the upper limb.
Location
It begins at the lower border of teres major from the union of the basilic vein and the brachial veins and ends at the lateral border of the first rib, where it becomes the subclavian vein. It lies medial and slightly below the axillary artery and receives the cephalic vein.
Function
It drains blood from the upper limb, shoulder and part of the chest wall.
Body system
Cardiovascular · paired (left and right)
FMA ID
FMA13331 (Foundational Model of Anatomy)

Key facts

  • It can be used for central venous access.

Clinical relevance

Thrombosis of the axillary and subclavian veins after strenuous arm use is called Paget-Schroetter syndrome.

Structures next to the axillary vein

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

References

  1. Foundational Model of Anatomy: Axillary vein (FMA13331). 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.

Related anatomy

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