Adrenal veins

Radiopaedia • CC-by-nc-sa 3.0 • de

The venous drainage of the adrenal (suprarenal) glands is typically comprised of a single vein draining each adrenal gland. Like the gonadal veins each side drains differently:

left suprarenal vein drains into the left renal vein .
right suprarenal vein drains directly into the inferior vena cava .

Anatomical Variants

Variant anatomy of the suprarenal vasculature is common and has been reported in 13% of patients .

On the right side, the variants include one central vein with multiple significant accessory veins or a suprarenal vein that drains directly into the hepatic vein . On the left side, variants include two significant adrenal veins or a branch to the left inferior phrenic vein .

Variation is more common on the right side than on the left (17% vs. 9%) .