Patient was instructed regarding functions of veins in the body as follows:
- Veins are blood vessels that help with return of deoxygenated blood from various organs of the body to the right side of heart.
- The smaller veins in the upper part of the body merge to form one large vein, superior vena cava, and drain all deoxygenated blood from the upper body, above the heart level, into the right heart.
- The smaller veins in the lower part of the body merge to form one large vein, inferior vena cava, and drain all deoxygenated blood from the lower body, below the heart level, into the right heart.
- Blood from the right heart is returned to the lungs, where the carbon dioxide from the deoxygenated blood is released and more oxygen is picked up, to be oxygenated. The oxygenated blood from the lungs will enter the left side of heart and the left heart will pump the oxygenated blood to the various body parts through the arterial system.
- Also, veins are highly elastic in nature and are very flexible. So, they allow a large volume to blood to be stored in them. When the body is at rest, metabolic demand is also low, and so, not all blood volume in the body is needed to meet the metabolic demand. But, during activity and exercise, as the metabolic demand increases, volume of blood stored in the veins will be shifted into the general circulation, to help meet the metabolic demand.
