The bronchial veins are small vessels that return blood from the larger

bronchi A bronchus is a passage or airway in the lower respiratory tract that conducts air into the lungs. The first or primary bronchi pronounced (BRAN-KAI) to branch from the trachea at the carina are the right main bronchus and the left main bronchus. ...

and structures at the roots of the

lungs The lungs are the primary organs of the respiratory system in humans and most other animals, including some snails and a small number of fish. In mammals and most other vertebrates, two lungs are located near the backbone on either side of th ...

. The right side drains into the

azygos vein The azygos vein is a vein running up the right side of the thoracic vertebral column draining itself towards the superior vena cava. It connects the systems of superior vena cava and inferior vena cava and can provide an alternative path for blood ...

, while the left side drains into the

left superior intercostal vein The superior intercostal veins are two veins that drain the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th intercostal spaces, one vein for each side of the body. Right superior intercostal vein The right superior intercostal vein drains the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th posterior inter ...

or the

accessory hemiazygos vein The accessory hemiazygos vein, also called the superior hemiazygous vein, is a vein on the left side of the vertebral column that generally drains the fourth through eighth intercostal spaces on the left side of the body. Structure The accessor ...

. Bronchial veins are thereby part of the

bronchial circulation The bronchial circulation is the part of the circulatory system that supplies nutrients and oxygen to the cells that constitute the lungs, as well as carrying waste products away from them. It is complementary to the pulmonary circulation that brin ...

, carrying waste products away from the cells that constitute the

. The bronchial veins are counterparts to the

bronchial arteries In human anatomy, the bronchial arteries supply the lungs with nutrition and oxygenated blood. Although there is much variation, there are usually two bronchial arteries that run to the left lung, and one to the right lung and are a vital part o ...

. However, they only carry ~13% of the blood flow of the bronchial arteries. The remaining blood is returned to the heart via the

pulmonary veins The pulmonary veins are the veins that transfer oxygenated blood from the lungs to the heart. The largest pulmonary veins are the four ''main pulmonary veins'', two from each lung that drain into the left atrium of the heart. The pulmonary vein ...

References

External links

* Veins of the torso {{circulatory-stub

See also

References

External links