# What are the pulmonary veins?

The pulmonary veins is called the pulmonary veins. Gray's Anatomy (1918) describes it as four veins — two from each lung — that carry oxygenated blood back to the heart.

## What it means

- Four veins — two from each lung — that carry oxygenated blood back to the heart.
- The only veins in the body carrying oxygen-rich blood.
- Empty into the left atrium.

## Action steps

1. Leave the hilum of each lung.
2. Pass a short distance to the back of the heart.
3. Enter the left atrium on its posterior wall.

## Sources

- [Gray's Anatomy of the Human Body (1918)](https://www.bartleby.com/107/)

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