Prostatic venous plexus

Last revised by Daniel J Bell ◉ on 2 Jul 2020

Citation, DOI, disclosures and article data

Citation:

Nash C, Bell D, Gaillard F, et al. Prostatic venous plexus. Reference article, Radiopaedia.org (Accessed on 29 Sep 2023) https://doi.org/10.53347/rID-59742

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.53347/rID-59742

Permalink:

https://radiopaedia.org/articles/59742

rID:

59742

Article created:

23 Apr 2018, Clinton Nash

Disclosures:

At the time the article was created Clinton Nash had no recorded disclosures.

View Clinton Nash's current disclosures

Last revised:

2 Jul 2020, Daniel J Bell ◉

Disclosures:

At the time the article was last revised Daniel J Bell had no recorded disclosures.

View Daniel J Bell's current disclosures

Revisions:

7 times, by 5 contributors - see full revision history and disclosures

Systems:

Vascular, Urogenital

Sections:

Anatomy

Synonyms:

Venous plexus of the prostate
Santorini's plexus
Santorini plexus

The prostatic venous plexus (also known as Santorini's plexus) is a network of veins around the anterolateral aspect of the prostate and anterior to the bladder. Tributaries include:

deep dorsal vein of the penis
anterior vesical rami
prostatic rami

The receipt of blood from the vesical and prostatic rami connect the prostatic plexus to the vesical plexus and internal pudendal vein. The prostatic plexus then drains into the vesical and internal iliac veins.¹

Related pathology

By draining to the iliac veins, prostate tumor cells are able to reach the vertebral venous plexus of the spine (via Batson's plexus) leading to metastatic tumor deposits in the vertebrae. This occurs due to the retrograde flow of blood through valveless veins, especially under transient conditions of increased intra-abdominal pressure, such as when straining to urinate ².