How to Use vena cava in a Sentence

vena cava

noun
  • Avoid lying on your right side or flat on your back, which puts the full weight of your uterus on the vena cava.
    — Parents Editors, Parents, 17 Oct. 2023
  • Lying on your back puts the weight of your uterus on your inferior vena cava.
    — Anna Giorgi, Verywell Health, 12 July 2024
  • Pig and human hearts each are attached to a large artery known as the aorta as well as to a large vein known as the vena cava.
    — Amy Dockser Marcus, WSJ, 31 Oct. 2022
  • These drain into the inferior vena cava, which is a direct line to the heart.
    — New York Times, 19 Aug. 2021
  • Parkhurst used a tiny gripping tool to grasp the hook and pull the filter up through the vena cava and out through the small incision in the patient’s neck.
    — Lisa Sanders, M.d., New York Times, 30 Nov. 2022
  • At that stage, the uterus is large enough to put pressure on the inferior vena cava, which is one of the major blood vessels that return blood flow to the heart.
    — Washington Post, 22 Oct. 2021
  • Seven years earlier, the man had a CT scan that showed an almost total blockage of his vena cava.
    — Lisa Sanders, M.d., New York Times, 30 Nov. 2022
  • Compressing either the inferior vena cava or the aorta may decrease blood flow to your baby.
    — Elisa Cinelli, Parents, 2 July 2024
  • However the blood flow and diameter of the inferior vena cava were reduced when lying on their backs.
    — Amanda Ross-White, CNN, 16 Oct. 2017
  • Pregnant women from the second trimester onward should also avoid it, as the growing uterus can compress the inferior vena cava.
    — Allison Palmer, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 9 Apr. 2026
  • Sleeping or resting in this position may compress the inferior vena cava, a major vein that returns blood from your lower body to your heart.
    — Elisa Cinelli, Parents, 2 July 2024
  • The inferior vena cava and superior vena cava carry blood to the heart.
    — Scott Springer, Cincinnati.com, 1 Nov. 2017
  • The results of his work led other physicians to use the femoral vein, deep within the thigh, to reach the inferior vena cava, which carries blood from the legs, feet and abdomen to the heart.
    — Allison Futterman, Discover Magazine, 14 Oct. 2021
  • It would be connected to the patient’s vena cava—a large vein carrying blood into the heart—through a cannula, or tube, inserted in the jugular vein in the throat.
    — Randy Rieland, Smithsonian, 7 Apr. 2017
  • Four openings were designed to lead to the aorta, the vena cava, the pulmonary artery, and the pulmonary vein; a cable connected it to a black dictionary-size control box.
    — Joshua Rothman, The New Yorker, 1 Mar. 2021
  • An autopsy revealed that Bryan’s spleen was intact, his liver was missing, and his inferior vena cava was severed.
    — Andrew Cunningham, ArsTechnica, 15 Apr. 2026
  • The medical mystery Layne Todd was born without an inferior vena cava.
    — Scott Springer, Cincinnati.com, 1 Nov. 2017
  • After a few hours spent separating connections from the vena cava and nearby tissue, the patient's liver is fully removed.
    — Christian Thorsberg, Discover Magazine, 14 Mar. 2022
  • This takes pressure off of your inferior vena cava, a large vein that carries deoxygenated blood from your lower and middle body into the right atrium of the heart, and may help reduce swelling.
    — Korin Miller, SELF, 21 Sep. 2017
  • During the robotic portion, the first thing that needed to be done was to close the lower vena cava, the large vein that brings blood to the heart, and the main artery that supplies the kidney with blood, using a special stapler.
    — Ed Stannard, Hartford Courant, 24 Nov. 2022
  • Back in the 1960s, one scientist posited that purring was the product of blood percolating through the vena cava, a vessel that returns the body’s blood to the heart; that notion was later disproved.
    — Katherine J. Wu, The Atlantic, 7 Sep. 2022
  • The strongly suggestive image, also known as Mumoli's sign (named after the senior author), shows the hepatic veins joining together into the inferior vena cava.
    — Ncbi Rofl, Discover Magazine, 12 July 2011
  • Cancer may also be found in the bronchus, pleura, diaphragm, chest wall, breastbone, backbone, phrenic nerve, pericardium, vena cava, aorta, pharynx, trachea, esophagus, and/or carina (the area where the trachea branches into the bronchi).
    — Lynne Eldridge, Verywell Health, 15 Aug. 2023
  • For people who are already bleeding or have other reasons why blood thinners cannot be used, a special filter can be placed in the main vein draining blood from the lower body, called an IVC filter (short for inferior vena cava).
    — Emily Kay Votruba, EverydayHealth.com, 10 Feb. 2026

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'vena cava.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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