Portal vein

The large vein that collects the blood from the spleen and intestinal tract and carries it to the liver.

A vein which takes blood from the stomach, pancreas, gall bladder, intestines and spleen to the liver.

The vein that carries the absorbed nutrients from the intestinal tract to the liver.

Short vein that receives branches from many veins leading from abdominal organs, including the splenic vein from the spleen and pancreas and the mesenteric vein from the intestine, and then enters the liver, ramifying there and ending in capillarylike sinusoids where the nutrients from the blood pass into liver cells. The blood then passes through the hepatic vein to the inferior vena cava.

A short vein, about 8 cm long, forming part of the hepatic portal system. It receives many tributaries, including the splenic vein from the spleen and pancreas, the gastric vein from the stomach, the mesenteric vein from the small and large intestines, and the rectal vein from the rectum and anus.

The vein which carries to the liver, blood that has been circulating in many of the abdominal organs. It is peculiar among the veins of the body in that it ends by breaking up into a capillary network instead of carrying the blood directly to the heart a peculiarity which it shares only with certain small vessels in the kidneys. The portal system begins below in the haemorrhoidal plexus of veins around the lower end of the rectum; from this point, along the whole length of the intestines, the blood is collected into an inferior mesenteric vein upon the left, and a superior mesenteric vein upon the right side. The inferior mesenteric vein empties into the splenic vein, and the latter, uniting with the superior mesenteric vein immediately above the pancreas, forms the portal vein. The portal vein is joined by veins from the stomach and gall-bladder, and finally divides into two branches which sink into the right and left lobes of the liver.

Vein formed by the union of veins from the abdominal viscera, which then takes blood into the liver. It is made of the combined superior and inferior mesenteric, splenic, gastric, and cystic veins.