Splenic vein
Vena splenica (lienalis) · Slezinná žíla
Veins
Looks like
A vein running from the spleen along the back of the pancreas to join the superior mesenteric vein.
What it does
Drains the spleen, pancreas and part of the stomach, forming the portal vein.
Keeping it well
A clot here, often after pancreatitis, can cause stomach varices that bleed; a doctor checks with a scan.
Related conditions
- Acute liver failure
- Acute porphyria
- Alcohol withdrawal and delirium tremens
- Alcohol-related liver disease
- Alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency
- Autoimmune hepatitis
- Bile duct cancer (cholangiocarcinoma)
- Biliary atresia
- Brucellosis
- Chronic venous insufficiency
- Cirrhosis
- Clotting disorders (thrombophilia & APS)
- Deep vein thrombosis
- Dengue & mosquito-borne fevers
- Ebola virus disease
- Echinococcosis (hydatid disease)
- Eye melanoma (uveal melanoma)
- Gilbert's syndrome
- Haemochromatosis & Wilson's disease
- Hepatic encephalopathy
- High cholesterol
- Intestinal worms & schistosomiasis
- Intrahepatic cholestasis of pregnancy
- Leishmaniasis
- Leptospirosis (Weil's disease)
- Liver abscess (pyogenic and amoebic)
- Liver cancer (hepatocellular carcinoma)
- Malaria
- Metabolic fatty liver disease (MASLD)
- Metabolic syndrome
- Myelofibrosis
- Newborn jaundice
- Phenylketonuria (PKU)
- Poisoning & overdose
- Portal vein thrombosis and Budd–Chiari syndrome
- Primary biliary cholangitis
- Primary sclerosing cholangitis
- Varicose veins
- Viral hepatitis (A, B, C, D, E)
- Yellow fever