What do veins do?
Blood constantly moves through your body, bringing oxygen and nutrients to your bones, muscles and tissues. After delivering oxygen and nutrients, the blood becomes deoxygenated (without oxygen). Deoxygenated blood returns to the right side of your heart through a network of thin blood vessels (veins). Veins are part of your circulatory system.
What is the circulatory system?
Every time your heart beats, your arteries send oxygenated blood from the left side of your heart to tissues throughout your body. Once your tissues use the oxygen and nutrients they need, tiny blood vessels (capillaries) collect carbon dioxide and other waste products from the tissues.
Deoxygenated blood then flows into your veins to make its way back to your heart. Your heart and blood vessels keep your circulatory system working in a constant rhythm.
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What is the function of the femoral vein?
Blood from your lower leg drains into your femoral vein, sometimes known as your superficial femoral vein. Your femoral vein then moves this blood into your external iliac vein. From there, blood enters the veins in your abdomen.
How does the femoral vein work with other veins?
Your femoral vein is part of a large network of veins in your body that work together to keep your blood moving. These veins drain into one another until the blood reaches the right side of your heart.
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How does blood drain into the femoral vein?
Blood moves into your femoral vein from your popliteal vein. Veins of your lower leg form the popliteal vein below your knee.
Smaller veins that drain into larger veins are tributaries of the larger vein. Tributaries of your femoral vein include:
- Deep femoral vein: A vein located deep inside of your thigh, which meets your femoral vein to form your common femoral vein.
- Great saphenous vein: A large superficial vein that begins in your foot and runs up your leg to your femoral vein.
- Lateral and medial circumflex femoral veins: Smaller veins that drain blood from tissues in your leg into your femoral vein.
Why is the femoral vein important?
Healthcare providers sometimes use your femoral vein to help diagnose and treat heart conditions. They may insert a thin, flexible tube (catheter) into this vein to perform various heart procedures such as right heart catheterization or cardiac ablation.
