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Internal thoracic vein: anatomy, location and function

The internal thoracic vein accompanies the internal thoracic artery. It drains the anterior chest wall and breast.

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Highlighted in the model: Internal thoracic 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.

Internal thoracic vein at a glance

What it is
The internal thoracic vein accompanies the internal thoracic artery.
Location
It runs with the artery behind the costal cartilages and drains into the brachiocephalic vein.
Function
It drains the anterior chest wall and breast.
Body system
Cardiovascular · paired (left and right)
FMA ID
FMA4758 (Foundational Model of Anatomy)

Structures next to the internal thoracic vein

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

References

  1. Foundational Model of Anatomy: Internal thoracic vein (FMA4758). 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.