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Gastric vein: anatomy, location and function

The gastric veins drain the stomach and drain into the portal vein. They drain the lesser curvature of the stomach and lower esophagus.

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Highlighted in the model: Gastric 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.

Gastric vein at a glance

What it is
The gastric veins drain the stomach and drain into the portal vein.
Location
The left and right gastric veins run along the lesser curvature. The right drains into the hepatic portal vein. The left drains into the portal vein in about half to two-thirds of people and otherwise into the splenic vein or the splenoportal junction. It also connects with esophageal veins.
Function
They drain the lesser curvature of the stomach and lower esophagus.
Body system
Cardiovascular · paired (left and right)
FMA ID
FMA15399 (Foundational Model of Anatomy)

Key facts

  • The link with esophageal veins is a portosystemic anastomosis.

Clinical relevance

In portal hypertension, this link can produce esophageal varices.

Structures next to the gastric vein

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

References

  1. Foundational Model of Anatomy: Gastric vein (FMA15399). 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.