Veins of the spinal cord (English)

The substance of the spinal cord 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 spinal cord, called the coronal venous plexus, which is made up of 6 longitudinal venous channels: anterior and posterior spinal veins, and another 4 longitudinal veins, one on each side of the spinal veins. These veins drain into the segmental veins, the anterior and posterior radicular veins. The radicular veins can drain either into the intervertebral veins running through the intervertebral foramina, or into the anterior and posterior internal vertebral plexus found in the spinal epidural space. Both of these, however, eventually drain into the external vertebral venous plexus that surrounds the vertebral column and finally empties into caval and azygos venous systems.