title: Venous drainage of the soleus muscle.
abstract: Soleus veins have been implicated as the site for deep venous thrombosis initiation. Detailed anatomic knowledge is required for the early diagnosis using non-invasive ultrasound techniques. In the present work, we describe the anatomy of the veins that emerge from the ventral face of the soleus muscle. Twenty-eight soleus muscles were dissected and 543 veins were found. The number of veins per leg ranged from 7 to 38. The distribution of these veins per quadrant ranged from 0 to 12. The greatest number of veins occurred at the superior lateral quadrant. Most soleus veins mainly drained into the posterior tibial and fibular veins. The mean length of the soleus veins ranged from 0.907 to 2.804 cm. We conclude that there is a wide variability in the distribution of soleus veins through the soleus muscle and their quadrants. The majority of the soleus veins drain into the tibial and fibular veins.
authors.affiliation: Morphology and Structural Biology Laboratory, Institute of Technology and Research, Tiradentes University, Aracaju, Sergipe, Brazil. pradoreis@sergipenet.com.br
authors.forename: Francisco Prado
authors.initials: FP
authors.lastname: Reis
authors.forename: José Aderval
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Aragão
authors.forename: Luis Francisco Poli
authors.initials: LF
authors.lastname: de Figueiredo
authors.forename: Fausto
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Miranda
authors.forename: Marco Antonio Prado
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Nunes
authors.forename: Vera Lúcia Corrêa
authors.initials: VL
authors.lastname: Feitosa
mesh_terms: D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007866:Leg / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000098:blood supply*; D008297:Male; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000098:blood supply*; D014680:Veins / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D020246:Venous Thrombosis