Morphologic studies of the venous drainage of the tongue.

The aim of this work was to study the role of the venous drainage of the tongue in tongue inspection in traditional Chinese medicine and tongue-flap surgery. Thirty-two adult cadavers were observed, including 7 venous corrosivecast specimens. The decreasing order of venous drainage of the tongue, based on the diameter of the vein and size of its drainage area, was the accompanying v. of the hypoglossal n., the epiglottic valleculate v., the accompanying v. of the lingual n., the lingual root v. and the accompanying v. of the lingual a. The veins constituting the picture of the tongue seen in sublingual collateral inspection were the companion vv. of the hypoglossal and lingual nn. The pedicle of a tongue flap must maintain efficient venous drainage canal.