| Rectal venous plexus | |
|---|---|
 Scheme of the anastomosis of the veins of the rectum. | |
 The veins of the right half of the male pelvis. | |
| Details | |
| Drains to | Superior rectal vein, middle rectal vein(s), inferior rectal veins |
| Identifiers | |
| Latin | plexus venosus rectalis,[1] plexus haemorrhoidalis |
| TA98 | A12.3.10.010 |
| TA2 | 5031 |
| FMA | 18933 |
| Anatomical terminology | |
The rectal venous plexus (or hemorrhoidal plexus[2]) is the venous plexus surrounding the rectum.[3] It consists of an internal and an external rectal plexus.[4]: 598 [5]: 294 It is drained by the superior, middle, and inferior rectal veins. It forms a portosystemic (portocaval) anastomosis.[3] This allows rectally administered medications to bypass first pass metabolism.[citation needed]
Despite the inclusion of the term "rectal" into the name, the venous plexus is positionally, functionally, and clinically primarily related to the anal canal.[6]
- ^ "Anatonomina". www.terminologia-anatomica.org. Retrieved 2023-07-08.
- ^ "plexus venosus rectalis". TheFreeDictionary.com. Retrieved 2023-07-08.
- ^ a b Standring, Susan (2020). Gray's Anatomy: The Anatomical Basis of Clinical Practice (42th ed.). New York. p. 1198. ISBN 978-0-7020-7707-4. OCLC 1201341621.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - ^ Moore, Keith L.; Dalley, Arthur F.; Agur, Anne M. R. (2018). Clinically Oriented Anatomy (8th ed.). Wolters Kluwer. ISBN 978-1-4963-4721-3.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
:022was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Moore, Keith L.; Dalley, Arthur F.; Agur, Anne M. R. (2017). Essential Clinical Anatomy (6th ed.). Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. p. 598. ISBN 978-1496347213.