Small saphenous vein at a glance
- What it is
- A superficial vein of the posterior leg.
- Location
- It begins at the lateral end of the dorsal venous arch, passes behind the lateral malleolus, ascends in the middle of the calf and usually drains into the popliteal vein in the popliteal fossa. Its termination varies; it may join the great saphenous or femoral vein instead.
- Function
- It drains the lateral foot and the posterior leg.
- Body system
- Cardiovascular · paired (left and right)
- FMA ID
- FMA44335 (Foundational Model of Anatomy)
Key facts
- It runs near the sural nerve.
- It has 7–13 valves and pierces the deep fascia in the upper calf before joining the popliteal vein.
Clinical relevance
It can become varicose, though less often than the great saphenous vein.
Structures next to the small saphenous vein
The nearest named structures in the 3D model, measured from the centre of each part:
- Soleus · muscular
- Fibula · skeletal
- Interosseous membrane of leg · skeletal
- Plantaris · muscular
- Tibia · skeletal
- Anterior tibial artery · cardiovascular
- Fibularis longus · muscular
- Anterior tibial vein · cardiovascular
- Tibialis posterior · muscular
- Posterior tibial artery · cardiovascular
References
- Foundational Model of Anatomy: Small saphenous vein (FMA44335). EMBL-EBI Ontology Lookup Service.
- OpenStax. Anatomy and Physiology 2e, §20.1 Structure and Function of Blood Vessels. Rice University, 2022.
- 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.