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External iliac vein: anatomy, location and function

The external iliac vein is the continuation of the femoral vein above the inguinal ligament. It drains the lower limb and the lower anterior abdominal wall.

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Highlighted in the model: External iliac 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.

External iliac vein at a glance

What it is
The external iliac vein is the continuation of the femoral vein above the inguinal ligament.
Location
It begins at the inguinal ligament, runs along the pelvic brim medial to the artery and joins the internal iliac vein to form the common iliac vein. It receives the inferior epigastric and deep circumflex iliac veins.
Function
It drains the lower limb and the lower anterior abdominal wall.
Body system
Cardiovascular · paired (left and right)
FMA ID
FMA18886 (Foundational Model of Anatomy)

Key facts

  • On the right it lies first medial and then behind the external iliac artery; on the left it stays medial.

Structures next to the external iliac vein

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

References

  1. Foundational Model of Anatomy: External iliac vein (FMA18886). 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.