Fig. 2. Illustration of the different courses and communications of the dorsal metacarpal veins showing long dorsal metacarpal veins (A). (B) Short dorsal metacarpal veins which bifurcate into two veins. (C) Short dorsal metacarpal veins which unite near their origin to form one long dorsal metacarpal vein (D) Two adjacent dorsal metacarpal veins (1) which unite away from their origin to form one short dorsal metacarpal vein. (E) Two short dorsal metacarpal veins which unite near their origin and form one long dorsal metacarpal vein. (F) Dorsal metacarpal veins running in different directions and forming network of veins on the dorsum of the hand with no prominent vein.