Renal vein

Template:Infobox Vein

Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1]

The renal veins are veins that drain the kidney. They connect the kidney to the inferior vena cava.

It is usually singular to each kidney, except in the condition “multiple renal veins”.^[1]

Because the inferior vena cava is on the right half of the body, the left renal vein is generally the longer of the two.

Because the inferior vena cava is not laterally symmetrical, the left renal vein often receives the following veins:^[2]

• left inferior phrenic vein
• left suprarenal vein
• left gonadal vein (left testicular vein in males, left ovarian vein in females)
• left 2nd lumbar vein

This is in contrast to the right side of the body, where these veins drain directly into the IVC.

Diseases associated with the renal vein include renal vein thrombosis (RVT) and nutcracker syndrome (renal vein entrapment syndrome).

• 
  Frontal section through the kidney
• 
  Diagram showing completion of development of the parietal veins.
• 
  The venæ cavæ and azygos veins, with their tributaries.

• 
  Human kidneys viewed from behind with spine removed.

• renal physiology

• Template:SUNYAnatomyFigs – “Retroperitoneal structures on the posterior abdominal wall.”

Template:Veins Template:Kidney

Template:WikiDoc Sources fi:Munuaislaskimo