Skip to content
EasyAnatomyLab
Menu

Obturator vein: anatomy, location and function

A vein draining the medial thigh into the internal iliac vein. It drains the adductor muscles and the pelvic wall.

Loading 3D model…
Skin0%
Muscles100%

Structures

Loading… Click the model or search.

Highlighted in the model: Obturator 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.

Obturator vein at a glance

What it is
A vein draining the medial thigh into the internal iliac vein.
Location
It begins in the adductor region, passes through the obturator canal with the artery and nerve, and empties into the internal iliac vein.
Function
It drains the adductor muscles and the pelvic wall.
Body system
Cardiovascular · paired (left and right)
FMA ID
FMA18916 (Foundational Model of Anatomy)

Key facts

  • An accessory obturator vein often drains into the external iliac vein and crosses the pelvic brim near the femoral ring.

Structures next to the obturator vein

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

References

  1. Foundational Model of Anatomy: Obturator vein (FMA18916). 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.