Abstract
Although the cephalic vein follows a fairly consistent course, numerous variants have been reported. We found a rare anatomical presentation of the cephalic vein in a 75-year-old Korean male cadaver. The left cephalic vein was identified in the deltopectoral groove, ascended over the clavicle, and terminated into the left subclavian vein just before its union with the left internal jugular vein. The detailed knowledge on the variations of the cephalic vein is important for clinicians as well as anatomists since the approach through the axillary base is favored in many invasive clinical procedures.

Similar content being viewed by others
References
Au FC (1989) The anatomy of the cephalic vein. Am Surg 55:638–639
Bertelli D (1890) Le sillon intermediaire anterieur do la moelle humaine dans la premiere annee de vie. Arch Ital de Biol 11:1–10 (cited by Vazquez and Sanudo 2016)
Charpy A (1903) Veines in particulier. In: Poirier P, Charpy A (eds) Traité d’Anatomie Humaine. Masson et Cie Editeurs, Paris (cited by Vazquez and Sanudo 2016)
Clemente CD (1985) Gray’s anatomy. 30th American edition, chapter 9. The veins. Lea and Febiger, Philadelphia, pp 821–822
De Maria E, Cappelli S (2013) Cephalic vein with a supraclavicular course: rare, but do not forget it exists! J Cardiovasc Med (Epub ahead of print)
Dilaveris P, Sotiropoulos E, Georgiopoulos G, Gatzoulis K, Kallikazaros I, Tousoulis D (2016) Is dual-chamber pacemaker implantation feasible through a cephalic vein with a supraclavicular course? Int J Cardiol 212:297–298
Evans HM (1912) Embryology of the cardiovascular system. In: Keihel F, Mall FP (eds) Manual of embryology. Lippincott, Philadelphia, pp 687–709
Hong JE, Kim BR, Kim J, Yoon SP (2016) A cephalic vein drained into one of the double axillary veins through the pectoralis major muscle. Folia Morphol 75:268–270
Ishizuka H (1964) Über die variationen der mündungsweise der V. cephalica. Yokohama Med Bull 15:79–89
Kim DI, Han SH (2010) Venous variations in neck region: cephalic vein. Int J Anat Variat 3:208–210
Lau EW, Liew R, Harris S (2007) An unusual case of the cephalic vein with a supraclavicular course. Pacing Clin Electrophysiol 30:719–720
Le Saout J, Vallee B, Person H, Doutriaux M, Blanc J, Nguyen H (1983) Bases anatomiques de l’utilisation chirurgicale de la veine céphalique (V. Cephalica). J Chir (Paris) 120:131–134
Loukas M, Myers CS, Wartmann ChT, Tubbs RS, Judge T, Curry B, Jordan R (2008) The clinical anatomy of the cephalic vein in the deltopectoral triangle. Folia Morphol 67:72–77
Lum C, Ladenheim ED (2013) An interesting clinical case: variant of the cephalic vein emptying into the internal jugular vein. Semin Dial 26:E11–E12
Padget DH (1957) The development of the cranial venous system in man, from the viewpoint of comparative anatomy. Contr Embryol 247:79–140
Povoski SP (2000) A prospective analysis of the cephalic vein cutdown approach for chronic indwelling central venous access in 100 consecutive cancer patients. Ann Surg Oncol 7:496–502
Quain R (1844) Anatomy of the arteries of the human body. Taylor and Walton, London (cited by Vazquez and Sanudo 2016)
Ramírez JD, Sáenz LC, Rodríguez D, Restrepo AJ, Villegas F (2014) Supraclavicular course of the cephalic vein. Int J Case Rep Images 5:281–284
Saaid A, Drysdale I (2008) Unusual termination of the cephalic vein. Clin Anat 21:786–787
Saxena P, Shankar S, Kumar V, Naithani N (2015) Bilateral chylothorax as a complication of internal jugular vein cannulation. Lung India 32:370–374
Steckiewicz R, Świętoń EB, Stolarz P, Grabowski M (2015) Clinical implications of cephalic vein morphometry in routine cardiac implantable electronic device insertion. Folia Morphol 74:458–464
Świętoń EB, Steckiewicz R, Grabowski M, Stolarz P (2016) Selected clinical challenges of a supraclavicular cephalic vein in cardiac implantable electronic device implantation. Folia Morphol 75:376–381
Testut L, Latarjet A (1929) Traité d’Anatomie Humanine, vol II, 8th edn. Gaston Doin & Cie Editeurs, Paris (cited by Vazquez and Sanudo 2016)
Vazquez T, Sanudo J (2016) Veins of the upper limb. In: Tubbs S, Shoja MM, Loukas M (eds) Bergman’s comprehensive encyclopedia of human anatomic variation. Wiley Blackwell, New Jersey, pp 826–831
Yeri LA, Houghton EJ, Palmieri B, Flores M, Gergely M, Gómez JE (2009) Cephalic vein. Detail of its anatomy in the deltopectoral triangle. Int J Morphol 27:1037–1042
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that they have no competing interests.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Go, JY., Han, DJ., Kim, J. et al. A supraclavicular cephalic vein drained into the subclavian vein. Surg Radiol Anat 39, 1413–1415 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00276-017-1878-z
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00276-017-1878-z