[Biomechanical investigations on the great veins (author's transl)]

Tensile breaking load, extensibility, elasticity and breaking energy of superior vena cava, inferior vena cava and portal vein of 33 men and 18 women have been determined in different directions by means of an electronic tension testing machine. 315 test specimens have been investigated with the following results: 1. The average breaking load in the tranverse direction of all three veins exceeds that in the longitudinal direction. 2. The maximum elongation is larger in the longitudinal than in the transverse direction. 3. The elastic constant is larger in the transverse than in the longitudinal direction, i.e. the extensibility is larger in the longitudinal direction. 4. Breaking load, elastic constant, and breaking energy are largest for the inferior vena cava and smallest for the portal vein. 5. The maximum elongation of the three veins is approximately equal. 6. No significant dependence of the obtained data on age was found.