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Superior mesenteric vein: anatomy, location and function

The vein draining the small intestine and right colon. It drains the small intestine, cecum, ascending and transverse colon.

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Highlighted in the model: Superior mesenteric 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.

Superior mesenteric vein at a glance

What it is
The vein draining the small intestine and right colon.
Location
It ascends in the root of the mesentery, receives jejunal, ileal, ileocolic, right colic and middle colic tributaries, and joins the splenic vein behind the pancreatic neck to form the portal vein.
Function
It drains the small intestine, cecum, ascending and transverse colon.
Body system
Cardiovascular · single, midline structure
FMA ID
FMA14332 (Foundational Model of Anatomy)

Key facts

  • It lies to the right of the superior mesenteric artery.

Structures next to the superior mesenteric vein

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

References

  1. Foundational Model of Anatomy: Superior mesenteric vein (FMA14332). 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.