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| Vein: Dural venous sinuses | |
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| Dural veins | |
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| Sagittal section of the skull, showing the sinuses of the dura. | |
| Latin | s. durae matris |
| Gray's | subject #171 654 |
| MeSH | Cranial+Sinuses |
The dural venous sinuses (also called dural sinuses, cerebral sinuses, or cranial sinuses) are venous channels found between layers of dura mater in the brain.[1] They receive blood from internal and external veins of the brain, receive cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) from the subarachnoid space, and ultimately empty into the internal jugular vein.
Contents |
Venous sinuses
| Name | Drains to |
| Inferior sagittal sinus | Straight sinus |
| Superior sagittal sinus | Confluence of sinuses |
| Straight sinus | Confluence of sinuses |
| Occipital sinus | Confluence of sinuses |
| Confluence of sinuses | Transverse sinuses |
| Cavernous sinuses | Superior and inferior petrosal sinuses |
| Transverse sinuses | Sigmoid sinus |
| Superior petrosal sinus | Sigmoid sinus |
| Inferior petrosal sinus | Internal jugular vein |
| Sigmoid sinuses | Internal jugular vein |
Structure
The walls of the dural venous sinuses are composed of dura mater lined with endothelium, a specialized layer of flattened cells found in blood vessels. They differ from other blood vessels in that they lack a full set of vessel layers (e.g. tunica media) characteristic of arteries and veins.
Clinical relevance
The sinuses can be injured by trauma.[2] Damage to the dura mater, which may be caused by skull fracture, may result blood clot formation (thrombosis) within the dural sinuses. While rare, dural sinus thrombosis may lead to hemorrhagic infarction with serious consequences including epilepsy, neurological deficits, or death.[3]
Additional images
 Dura mater and its processes exposed by removing part of the right half of the skull, and the brain. |
 The sinuses at the base of the skull. |
References
- ^ Kiernan, John A. (2005). Barr's The Human Nervous System: An Anatomical Viewpoint. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, 428-230. ISBN 0-7817-5154-3.
- ^ Anatomy at MUN head/cbv
- ^ de Bruijn SF, Stam J (1999). "Randomized, placebo-controlled trial of anticoagulant treatment with low-molecular-weight heparin for cerebral sinus thrombosis". Stroke 30 (3): 484–8. PMID 10066840.
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- This page was last modified on 28 May 2008, at 15:43.
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