part of part of connected to connected to vessel drains blood from Homo sapiens system vertebral vein http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c9/Gray563.png Vein which collects blood from the muscles of the neck and drains into the internal jugular.[AAO] The vertebral vein is formed in the suboccipital triangle, from numerous small tributaries which spring from the internal vertebral venous plexuses and issue from the vertebral canal above the posterior arch of the atlas. They unite with small veins from the deep muscles at the upper part of the back of the neck, and form a vessel which enters the foramen in the transverse process of the atlas, and descends, forming a dense plexus around the vertebral artery, in the canal formed by the foramina transversaria of the cervical vertebrae. This plexus ends in a single trunk, which emerges from the foramen transversarium of the sixth cervical vertebra, and opens at the root of the neck into the back part of the innominate vein near its origin, its mouth being guarded by a pair of valves. On the right side, it crosses the first part of the subclavian artery. [WP,unvetted]. SCTID:303961000 UMLS:C0226560 FMA:4727 Wikipedia:Vertebral_vein UBERON:0001588 MA:0002262 EMAPA:36271 NCIT:C53145 vena vertebralis AAO:0010509 vein spinal cord brachiocephalic vein