Where is the portal vein
Hepatic Portal Vein (preview) - Human Anatomy | Kenhub
hello everyone this is Nicole from
kenhub and today we're going to talk
about leave the cutting portal vein
today in this video we are going to
discuss the hepatic portal vein and to
do so we'll be using this image here
which is a ventral view of the portal
hepatic vein with the central portion of
the liver cut out so we can see the
portal vein and other portal vessels you
can also see the aorta just here as well
as the inferior vena cava just posterior
to the portal hepatic vein the portal
venous system is an important system
that has its own unique flow and we'll
talk about how this works in tandem with
the venous system in the coming slides
first let's have a little bit of a chat
about the function of the hepatic portal
vein the portal vein is one of the most
important vessels in the body its main
functions are to direct blood to the
liver from the gastrointestinal tract
and receive nutrient-rich blood from the
intestines the portal hepatic vein also
receives blood from the spleen the
pancreas and the gallbladder which are
channels within the vessel to the liver
once inside the liver this blood can be
filtered and processed while also being
cleansed of bacteria and toxins in a
process called detoxification before we
move on to talk about the different
components of the portal vein however I
want to have a brief chat about the
portal venous system overall and as we
mentioned the portal venous system is a
unique system that involves the movement
of blood from the gastrointestinal tract
to the liver the process which involves
the liver as a processing station looks
a little bit like the cycle below veins
carry nutrient-rich blood from the
gastrointestinal tract such as the
superior mesenteric vein and the splenic
vein which then carry blood to the
portal vein itself and then through the
portal triad which is a triad of
structures found in the porta hepatis
once in the liver the blood is filtered
of bacteria and toxins which are
eliminated through bile or urine where
the filtered blood is sent back to the
inferior vena cava
as we discuss the portal vein we'll talk
about the structures associated with the
portal vein as we come to it in order of
this particular flow so firstly the
portal vein structure and location
including some associated structures the
formation of the portal vein and the
portal vein as it connects to the liver
but first let's begin with the portal
veins structure and location
as you can see in this image the hepatic
portal vein highlighted in green can be
found in the upper right quadrant of the
abdomen although this is not visible in
this image the portal vein is valveless
and generally reaches a length of 8
centimeters or 3 inches in adults the
portal vein ascends obliquely to the
liver behind the duodenum as a descends
it runs within the right free border of
the lesser omentum along with two other
structures the hepatic artery proper and
the common bile duct to form a structure
known as the portal triad which we'll
talk a little bit more about a bit later
in the tutorial this video is not over
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