International Medical Case Reports Journal (Mar 2016)

A rare case of anastomosis between the external and internal jugular veins

  • Karapantzos I,
  • Zarogoulidis P,
  • Charalampidis C,
  • Karapantzou C,
  • Kioumis I,
  • Tsakiridis K,
  • Mpakas A,
  • Sachpekidis N,
  • Organtzis J,
  • Porpodis K,
  • Zarogoulidis K,
  • Pitsiou G,
  • Zissimopoulos A,
  • Kosmidis C,
  • Fouka E,
  • Demetriou T

Journal volume & issue
Vol. 2016, no. Issue 1
pp. 73 – 75

Abstract

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Ilias Karapantzos,1 Paul Zarogoulidis,2 Charalampos Charalampidis,3 Chrysanthi Karapantzou,1 Ioannis Kioumis,2 Kosmas Tsakiridis,4 Andrew Mpakas,4 Nikolaos Sachpekidis,4 John Organtzis,2 Konstantinos Porpodis,2 Konstantinos Zarogoulidis,2 Georgia Pitsiou,2 Athanasios Zissimopoulos,5 Christoforos Kosmidis,6 Evagelia Fouka,2 Theodoros Demetriou31Ear, Nose and Throat Department, “Saint Luke” Private Hospital, Panorama, 2Pulmonary Department, “G. Papanikolaou” General Hospital, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, 3Department of Anatomy, Democritus University of Thrace, Alexandroupolis, 4Cardiothoracic Surgery Department, “Saint Luke” Private Hospital, Panorama, Thessaloniki, 5Nuclear Medicine Department, University General Hospital of Alexandroupolis, Democritus University of Thrace, Alexandroupolis, 6Surgery Department, “Interbalkan” European Medical Center, Thessaloniki, GreeceAbstract: Jugular veins bring deoxygenated blood from the head back to the heart. There are two sets of external and internal veins. The external jugular vein receives the greater part of the blood from the cranium and the deep parts of the face. It commences from the substance of the parotid gland and runs down the neck at the posterior border of sternocleidomastoideus and ends in the subclavian vein in front of the scalenus anterior. The external jugular vein is covered by the platysma and its upper half runs parallel with the great auricular nerve. There is also another minor jugular vein, the anterior, draining the submaxillary region. In our patient, we recognized a shunt between the external and internal jugular veins. It appeared in the middle of the veins, between the pair of valves, which are placed ~2.5 cm above the termination of the vessel. The anastomosis was fully functional, and there was no problem in the blood pressure of the patient. Moreover, the shunt was not associated with any systemic disease.Keywords: jugular veins, anastomosis, parotid gland

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