BACKGROUND: Trauma and thrombosis that can result in changes in the venous drainage of the upper limb, depending on the vascular territory interrupted, may have as a compensatory mechanism a collateral drainage channel that prevents damage to the venous return of that limb. The common brachial vein is a plausible and little known collateral channel for this purpose. OBJECTIVE: To describe the anatomy of the common brachial vein as a collateral drainage channel of the upper limb. METHODS: We have dissected 30 cadavers of people of different races, whose upper limbs were articulated to the trunk and preserved in a 10% formaldehyde solution. The exclusion criteria were disarticulated limbs or deformities in the topography of the studied structures. RESULTS: The common brachial vein was present in 73% (22/30) of the cadavers dissected. The common brachial vein drained into the axillary vein in 82% (18/22) and into the basilic vein in the proximal segment of the upper limb in 18% of the cadavers (04/22). CONCLUSION: The common brachial vein is frequently present, and, in most cases, it drains into the axillary vein.
Axillary vein; cadaver; anatomy; wound; upper extremity deep vein thrombosis
