Common cardinal veins

{{Infobox embryology

| Name = Common cardinal veins

| Latin = vena cardinalis communis

| Image = Gray477.svg

| Caption = Scheme of arrangement of parietal veins.

| Image2 = Gray476.png

| Caption2 = Human embryo with heart and anterior body-wall removed to show the sinus venosus and its tributaries.

| System =

}}

The common cardinal veins, also known as the ducts of Cuvier,[http://mirror.zfin.org/cgi-bin/webdriver?MIval=aa-anatomy_item.apg&OID=ZDB-ANAT-011113-119 ZFIN: Anatomical Structure: common cardinal vein] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928185340/http://mirror.zfin.org/cgi-bin/webdriver?MIval=aa-anatomy_item.apg&OID=ZDB-ANAT-011113-119|date=2007-09-28}} are veins that drain into the sinus venosus during embryonic development.{{Citation|last=Mozes|first=GEZA|title=CHAPTER 2 - Venous Embryology and Anatomy|date=2007-01-01|url=http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B9780123695154500053|work=The Vein Book|pages=15–25|editor-last=Bergan|editor-first=John J.|place=Burlington|publisher=Academic Press|language=en|doi=10.1016/b978-012369515-4/50005-3|isbn=978-0-12-369515-4|access-date=2021-01-05|last2=Gloviczki|first2=PETER|url-access=subscription}}{{Citation|last=Carlson|first=Bruce M.|title=Development of the Vascular System|date=2014-01-01|url=http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B9780128012383054593|work=Reference Module in Biomedical Sciences|publisher=Elsevier|language=en|doi=10.1016/b978-0-12-801238-3.05459-3|isbn=978-0-12-801238-3|access-date=2021-01-05|url-access=subscription}} These drain an anterior cardinal vein and a posterior cardinal vein on each side. Each of the ducts of Cuvier receives an ascending vein.{{Citation needed|date=January 2020}} The ascending veins return the blood from the parietes of the trunk and from the Wolffian bodies, and are called cardinal veins. Part of the left common cardinal vein persists after birth to form the coronary sinus.