central retinal artery

Central retinal artery

A branch of the ophthalmic artery that supplies blood to the retina and branches to form the arterioles of the retina.

Mentioned in: Retinal Artery Occlusion

---

vein 

A tubular vessel that carries blood towards the heart. See artery.
anterior ciliary vein One of many veins that drains the ciliary body, the deep and superficial plexuses, the anterior conjunctival veins and the episcleral veins to empty into the vortex veins.
anterior facial vein Vein branching from the angular vein at the side of the nose and running obliquely downward and backward across the face. It crosses the mandible and joins the posterior facial vein to form the common facial vein, which opens into the internal jugular. The anterior facial vein drains the part of the eyelids anterior to the tarsus.
aqueous vein One of several veins serving as exit channels for the aqueous humour, which they carry from the canal of Schlemm to the episcleral, conjunctival and subconjunctival veins.
central retinal vein A vein formed by the junction of the superior and inferior retinal veins at about the level of the lamina cribrosa on the temporal side of the central retinal artery. After a short course within the optic nerve, it empties into the cavernous sinus, the superior ophthalmic vein and sometimes into the inferior ophthalmic vein. See central retinal artery; retinal vein occlusion.
conjunctival vein One of many veins that drains the tarsal conjunctiva, the fornix, and the major portion of the bulbar conjunctiva.
inferior ophthalmic vein Vein that commences as a plexus near the floor of the orbit, runs backward on the inferior rectus muscles and divides into two branches, one which runs to the pterygoid venous plexus and the other which joins the cavernous sinus, usually via the superior ophthalmic vein. The inferior ophthalmic vein receives tributaries from the lower and lateral ocular muscles, the conjunctiva, the lacrimal sac and the two inferior vortex veins.
palpebral vein One of the veins of the upper or lower eyelid that empties for the most part into the anterior facial vein as well as into the angular, supraorbital, superior and inferior ophthalmic, the lacrimal and the superficial temporal veins.
posterior ciliary vein See vortex vein.
superior ophthalmic vein Vein that is formed near the root of the nose by a communication from the angular vein soon after it has been joined by the supraorbital vein. It passes into the orbit above the medial palpebral ligament, runs backward to the sphenoidal fissure where it usually meets the inferior ophthalmic vein, and drains into the cavernous sinus. It has many tributaries: the inferior ophthalmic vein, the anterior and posterior ethmoidal veins, the muscular vein, the lacrimal vein, the central retinal vein, the anterior ciliary vein and two of the posterior ciliary veins (the superior ones).
vortex vein One of usually four (two superior and two inferior) veins which pierce the sclera obliquely on either side of the superior and inferior recti muscles, some 6 mm behind the equator of the globe. The two superior ones open into the superior ophthalmic vein and the two inferior open into the inferior ophthalmic vein. These veins drain the posterior uveal tract. Syn. posterior ciliary vein; vena vorticosa. See anterior ciliary vein.