Internal jugular vein

Internal jugular vein
The fascia and middle thyroid veins. (Internal jugular visible at center left.)
Veins of the tongue. The hypoglossal nerve has been displaced downward in this preparation. (Internal jugular visible at bottom left.)
Details
Source	Sigmoid sinus and Inferior petrosal sinus
Drains to	subclavian
Artery	internal carotid, common carotid
Identifiers
Latin	vena jugularis interna
MeSH	A07.231.908.498
TA	A12.3.05.001
FMA	4724
Anatomical terminology []

The internal jugular vein is a paired jugular vein that collects blood from the brain and the superficial parts of the face and neck. The vein runs in the carotid sheath with the common carotid artery and vagus nerve.

On both sides and at the base of the brain, the inferior petrosal sinus and the sigmoid sinus join to form the internal jugular vein. The internal jugular vein begins in the posterior compartment of the jugular foramen, at the base of the skull.

It is somewhat dilated at its origin, and this dilatation is called the superior bulb.

It also has a common trunk into which drains the anterior branch of the retromandibular vein, the facial vein, and the lingual vein.

It runs down the side of the neck in a vertical direction, being at one end lateral to the internal carotid artery, and then lateral to the common carotid, and at the root of the neck, it unites with the subclavian vein to form the brachiocephalic vein (innominate vein); a little above its termination is a second dilatation, the inferior bulb.

Above, it lies upon the rectus capitis lateralis, behind the internal carotid artery and the nerves passing through the jugular foramen; lower down, the vein and artery lie upon the same plane, the glossopharyngeal and hypoglossal nerves passing forward between them; the vagus descends between and behind the vein and the artery in the same sheath (the carotid sheath), and the accessory runs obliquely backward, or deep to the vein.