Pulmonary veins

Venae pulmonales

They return oxygenated blood from the lungs to the left atrium. They are coloured red, like the arterial blood they carry.

Laterality:: Unpaired

Draft, not yet reviewed by a veterinarian. Content may contain errors. It is published so the community can review it.

View piece alone in 3D

3D model of this piece: "Normal Canine Heart Anatomy" by pixelbeaker (Sketchfab), CC BY 4.0

Topography

They arise in each lung lobe, leave at the hilus and open, as several trunks, into the roof of the left atrium on the dorsocaudal aspect of the heart base. The number of openings varies between dogs. On a dorsoventral radiograph the caudal lobar veins are medial to their arteries.

Clinical relevance

Left-sided heart failure (myxomatous mitral valve disease, dilated cardiomyopathy): left atrial pressure distends the pulmonary veins, which look wider than their arteries on radiographs before pulmonary oedema appears.

3D model

Segmented from the heart CT: the medial vascular tree converging on the left atrium. They continue inside the lungs.