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Median cubital vein: location, connections and variation at the elbow

Where is the median cubital vein?

Straighten your arm and turn your palm up. Can you see a bluish vein crossing the hollow at the front of the elbow? If one runs diagonally, that is the median cubital vein.

teamLabBody with the median cubital vein selected (front view), linking the cephalic and basilic veins
Screen from teamLabBody Pro, an anatomy app ›

The hollow in front of the elbow is the cubital fossa. The median cubital vein is a superficial vein running just under the skin there. How visible it is varies; in people with more subcutaneous fat it may hardly show.

Linking the cephalic and basilic veins

・Cephalic vein: runs up the thumb (lateral) side and drains into the axillary vein near the shoulder

・Basilic vein: runs up the little-finger (medial) side and passes deep in the mid-arm to join the brachial veins

The median cubital vein connects the two in the cubital fossa, usually running up and medially from the cephalic to the basilic vein. In the view above it is white and the two main veins are blue. It also sends a short perforating branch to the deep veins.

The bicipital aponeurosis and what lies beneath

teamLabBody with the median cubital vein selected and the muscles shown
Screen from teamLabBody Pro, an anatomy app ›

Under the vein lies the bicipital aponeurosis, a thin sheet spreading medially from the tendon of the biceps brachii. It separates the superficial veins from deeper structures: the brachial artery and median nerve run beneath it.

Patterns and variation

Superficial veins at the elbow vary a lot, and textbook drawings show just one typical pattern. A common N-shaped pattern has the median cubital vein linking the cephalic and basilic veins diagonally. In an M-shaped pattern the median antebrachial vein rises up the middle of the forearm and splits into median cephalic and median basilic veins. How patterns are classified, and how often each appears, differ between studies and textbooks, and the two arms of one person often differ.

Name and terms

Median means toward the midline and cubital means of the elbow. The Latin is vena mediana cubiti. Related terms: cephalic vein, basilic vein, median antebrachial vein, cubital fossa.

See it in the app

Superficial veins differ between people, and on your own arm the skin hides most of their course. In the 3D anatomy app teamLabBody you can select the median cubital vein to see how it joins the cephalic and basilic veins, then show the muscles to see it crossing over the biceps tendon. The app shows one typical pattern; comparing it with your own arm may reveal a different one.

FAQ

Where is the median cubital vein?
Just under the skin in the cubital fossa, the hollow at the front of the elbow. With the palm up it is the vein crossing the front of the elbow diagonally.
What does the median cubital vein connect?
The cephalic vein on the thumb side and the basilic vein on the little-finger side, usually running up and medially from the cephalic to the basilic vein.
What lies beneath the median cubital vein?
The bicipital aponeurosis, with the brachial artery and median nerve running deeper.

Related articles

・Median antebrachial vein: rises up the middle of the forearm to the elbow

・Biceps brachii: its aponeurosis lies under the vein

・Brachioradialis: forms the lateral border of the cubital fossa

・Humerus: the bone above the elbow

・Anatomy by body system

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