Cisterns, sinuses and cerebral veins

1. Big picture

This topic is mainly anatomy with clinical meaning. In the exam, they do not want you to list every small vein; they want you to understand:

• where cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) circulates in the subarachnoid cisterns;

• how venous blood leaves the brain through cerebral veins and dural venous sinuses;

• why venous sinus disease causes headache, seizures, papilledema, focal neurological deficits, hemorrhagic venous infarction, and sometimes coma;

• which sinus lesion gives which classic clinical syndrome, especially superior sagittal sinus thrombosis, transverse/sigmoid sinus thrombosis, and cavernous sinus thrombosis.

Think of this topic as: CSF spaces + venous drainage + venous thrombosis syndromes.