Veins of the spinal cord (Latin)

The substance of the medulla spinalis is drained by the intramedullary venous plexus, that is a centripetally arranged venous network. This venous plexus drains into a pial venous network on the surface of the medulla spinalis, called the plexus venosus coronalis, which is made up of 6 longitudinal venous channels: v. spinalis anterior and posterior, and another 4 longitudinal veins, one on each side of the vv. spinales. These veins drain into the segmental veins, the v. radicularis anterior and posterior. The vv. radiculares can drain either into the v. intervertebralis running through the foramen intervertebrale, or into the plexus venosus vertebralis internus anterior and posterior, found in the spatium epidurale spinale. Both of these, however, eventually drain into the plexus venosus vertebralis externus that surrounds the vertebral column and finally empties into caval and azygos venous systems.