part of part of connected to connected to vessel drains blood from Homo sapiens system anterior region of body anterior vena cava http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b4/Venenwinkel.png GAID:549 cranial vena cava precava UMLS:C0042459 MA:0000481 Wikipedia:Superior_vena_cava Phylogenetic modifications within this basic pattern of arteries and veins are largely correlated with functional changes. In the transition from water to land, gills gave way to lungs, accompanied by the establishment of a pulmonary circulation. In some fishes and certainly in tetrapods, the cardinal veins become less involved in blood return. Instead, the composite, prominent postcava (posterior vena cava) arose to drain the posterior part of the body and the precava (anterior vena cava) developed to drain the anterior part of the body.[well established][VHOG] EHDAA2:0001962 UBERON:0001585 vena maxima superior vena cava FMA:4720 VHOG:0001195 galen:SuperiorVenaCava The mouse has both left and right anterior vena cava. adult humans only have a right. Postnatally the left regresses and becomes non-functional (Wessels and Sedmera 2003). In the mouse, The right pulmonary vein passes dorsal to the right superior vena cava, the left pulmonary dorsal to the left superior vena cava (Biology of the Laboratory Mouse, Green). vena cava superior NCIT:C12816 superior caval vein MESH:D014683 EHDAA:8726 BTO:0002683 A vein that carries deoxygenated blood from the upper half of the body into the right atrium of the heart. SCTID:181368006 EMAPA:18417 right cardiac atrium vena cava