How to Use this Chapter

Each of the sections in this chapter reviews the neurovascular supply to an organ or group of organs in a schematized form. The following subgroups are distinguished in the diagrams:

• Arterial supply (red)

• Venous drainage (blue)

• Lymphatic drainage (green)

• Innervation (yellow)

The schematics can be used in various ways:

• Reviewing for a test: The student can quickly obtain a basic grasp of neurovascular structures and pathways.

• Looking up a specific structure: The diagrams make it easy to locate and identify a particular neurovascular supply.

• Understanding complex anatomy by appreciating the basic neurovascular supply to an organ in the diagrams and then referring back to the more complex anatomical relationships shown in earlier chapters.

Points to keep in mind when using the schematics:

• They reflect a simplified, idealized view.

• Topographical anatomy is ignored, and the structures are not drawn to scale.

• Organs that are in close proximity to each other but are supplied by different groups of neurovascular structures are shown in separate diagrams.

• By and large, variants are disregarded.

• In cases where the neurovascular supply is bilaterally symmetrical, only one side is shown.