Portal venous system

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Examples of such systems include the hepatic portal system, the hypophyseal portal system and (in non-mammals) the renal portal system. Unqualified, portal venous system often refers to the hepatic portal system. For this reason, portal vein most commonly refers to the hepatic portal vein.

The functional significance of such a system is that it transports products of one region directly to another region in relatively high concentrations. If the heart were involved in the blood circulation between those two regions, those products would be spread around the rest of the body.

In humans[edit]

The final common pathway for transport of venous blood from spleen, pancreas, gallbladder and the abdominal portion of the gastrointestinal tract [1] (with the exception of the inferior part of the anal canal and sigmoid) is through the hepatic portal vein. The portal vein is formed by the union of the superior mesenteric vein and the splenic vein posterior to the neck of the pancreas at the level of vertebra body L1. Ascending towards the liver, the portal vein passes posterior to the superior part of the duodenum and enters the right margin of the lesser omentum. It is anterior to the omental foramen and posterior to both the bile duct, which is slightly to the right, and the hepatic artery proper, which is slightly to the left. On approaching the liver, the portal vein divides into right and left branches which enter the liver parenchyma. It gives tributaries: the right and left gastric veins, the cystic vein and the para-umbilical veins.


  1. ^ Gallego, Carmen; Velasco, Maria; Marcuello, Pilar; Tejedor, Daniel; De Campo, Lourdes; Friera, Alfonsa (1 January 2002). "Congenital and Acquired Anomalies of the Portal Venous System". RadioGraphics. 22 (1): 141–159. doi:10.1148/radiographics.22.1.g02ja08141. ISSN 0271-5333.