Glossary

Anterior: front part of body.

Common femoral vein: deep vein located in the groin. The blood from greater saphenous vein empties into this vein.

Competent vein: blood flows in the normal direction back to the heart, vein has no reflux.

Deep leg vein: vein deep in the leg and muscle fascia that carries blood back to the heart.

Fascia: strong white connective tissue that covers muscle.

Greater saphenous vein (GSV) / Long saphenous vein: long superficial vein inside and in front of the anklebone. This vein travels along the inside of the lower extremity and empties into the deep leg vein called the common femoral vein in the groin.

Incompetent vein: blood flows in the wrong direction away from the heart, vein has reflux.

Insufficiency: blood flows backward (wrong direction) in the vein.

Leg: part of the lower extremity below the knee.

Lesser saphenous vein (LSV) / Short saphenous vein: short superficial vein outside and in back of the anklebone. This vein travels along the outside and back of the calf and empties into the deep leg vein called the popliteal vein, behind the the knee.

Perforator vein: vein that connect superficial vein to the deep vein. Blood flows from the superficial vein through the perforating vein into the deep vein.

Popliteal vein: deep vein located behind the knee. The blood from lesser saphenous vein empties into this vein.

Posterior: back part of body.

Reflux: blood flows backward (wrong direction) in the vein.

Superficial leg vein: vein above and superficial in the leg and muscle fascia that carries blood back to the heart.

Thigh: part of the lower extremity above the knee.

Venous: having to do with veins.

Ultrasound: device which sends sound waves of high frequency, inaudible to human ear, to the body and then picks up their reflection from underlying tissues and blood vessels in order to create images.