Corpus: Central vein

The central veins are veins located in the centre of the hepatic lobule which serve as collecting vessels for the blood flowing in via the hepatic sinusoids from the branches of the hepatic artery and the portal vein.

The central veins carry mixed arteriovenous blood. In their further course, an increasing number of central veins unite to form the sublobular veins and then the three large hepatic veins (venae hepaticae), which finally flow into the inferior vena cava. The central veins can therefore be regarded as the origin of the hepatic veins.