Veins of the lower limbs – anatomy and new terminology

Abstract

Background: In the last years, an important development in the diagnostic procedures and treatment of venous disease of the lower limbs has been achieved. Due to the lack of anatomic names for some of the clinically relevant veins, different clinical eponyms were introduced. Recently, an international consensus on the nomenclature of leg veins was accepted to simplify the communication and to minimize the risk of mistreatment. Authors of this article reviewed new literature on he veins of the lower limbs and compared the new terminology with the old one. Conclusions: Through the systematic review of superficial, deep and perforant veins, authors point out the altered and newly introduced names of the veins. The majority of changes refer to the names of superficial veins and perforators. The use of clinical eponyms is discouraged and descriptive terms designating location of the veins are preferred instead. The nomenclature of the deep veins has not been changed much. The term deep femoral vein, already in use in clinical practice was introduced, whereas the use of clinical term superficial femoral vein was discouraged. The most important changes in vein nomenclature are summarized in the table.