What is the venous angle?

The most common clinical disease of venous angle is varicose veins. Varicose veins are mainly manifested by the fact that the blood vessels in the patient's legs protrude from the surface of the skin, like a kind of earthworm crawling on the legs, and the patient will often feel leg pain and convulsions. Today, I will introduce to you some medical knowledge about the venous angle, such as the measurement method of the venous angle, the anatomical diagram of the venous angle and other details.

Venous angle: The internal jugular vein and subclavian vein on the same side merge behind the sternoclavicular joint to form the brachiocephalic vein (also known as the innominate vein). The angle at the confluence is called the venous angle. There are two venous angles, the left one is fed by the thoracic duct and the right one is fed by the right lymphatic duct. The subclavian vein continues with the axillary vein at the lateral edge of the first rib, accompanying the artery of the same name.

1. Anatomy of the venous angle

The blood flow here is to collect the blood from the internal jugular vein and the subclavian vein into the brachiocephalic vein, send it into the superior vena cava, and then into the right atrium.

2. Venous Angle Measurement Method

There are several methods for measuring the venous angle. The more commonly used method is to use the extension line of the line from the root of the nose to the tuberculum sellae as the baseline, and then draw a line perpendicular to the baseline through the top of the venous angle. The normal venous angle should be located 10-29 mm behind the tuberculum sellae and 32-46 mm above the baseline.

3. Clinical diagnosis of varicose veins:

The most common symptoms of varicose veins are leg pain and discomfort that increases day by day, proportional to the length of time standing and inactivity; leg fatigue, heaviness and pain at night, which are usually relieved by raising the affected fingers while lying down, and the discomfort disappears completely after a few hours. Most patients experience calf and foot muscle cramps (cramps) at night.

In addition to pain in the entire lower limb, some patients experience local pain, redness and swelling along the course of the superficial veins or at the site of varicose veins. This pain may be accompanied by painful veins and small areas of eczema on the surface of the skin. Women often experience increased pain before and during their menstrual period.

Varicose veins are divided into two types: primary and secondary.

The primary disease is caused by insufficiency of the superficial venous valves in the lower limbs, weak venous walls, long-term standing, and heavy physical labor, which lead to increased pressure in the superficial veins. Those with a family history account for 15~20%. Secondary varicose veins are more common in lower limb venous pregnancy and pelvic tumors. They are caused by long-term heavy physical exertion, cold stimulation, large-scale congestion of muscle capillaries, and repeated soreness and swelling, which lead to varicose veins distal to the heart.