Confluence of sinuses
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At the time the article was created Frank Gaillard had no recorded disclosures.
View Frank Gaillard's current disclosuresAt the time the article was last revised Francis Deng had no financial relationships to ineligible companies to disclose.
View Francis Deng's current disclosures- Torcula
- Torcular herophili
The confluence of sinuses (Latin: confluens sinuum), also known as the torcular Herophili and occasionally simply torcula, is the junction of the following dural venous sinuses:
The anatomy is highly variable and three types can be distinguished:
type 1: superior sagittal sinus drains into one transverse sinus and the straight sinus into the other, with no connection between the two
type 2: superior sagittal sinus and the straight sinus fork, and the forks from both sinuses join to form the transverse sinuses
type 3: a true confluence of sinuses
History and etymology
Torcular Herophili originates from the Latin "torcular" meaning wine or olive press and "Herophili" after the Ancient Greek anatomist and surgeon Herophilos (Latinized Herophilus; c. 330 BC – c. 260 BC) 3.
Galen first stated Herophilus called the structure the ληνός (lenos), a Greek term meaning vat, tub, or trough (such as for making grapes into wine) 4. In the ensuing centuries, the writing was translated to Arabic and then Latin, when the term torcular was introduced, some say erroneously because of the different meaning 4. The variation "torcula Herophili" arose in the 19th century likely as a spelling error, since torcula is a plural noun (of torculum, also meaning wine or olive press) 4.
Quiz questions
References
- 1. Bisaria KK. Anatomic variations of venous sinuses in the region of the torcular Herophili. (1985) Journal of neurosurgery. 62 (1): 90-5. doi:10.3171/jns.1985.62.1.0090 - Pubmed
- 2. Hartwig W. Fundamental Anatomy. LWW. (2008) ISBN:0781768888. Read it at Google Books - Find it at Amazon
- 3. Pearce JM. The neuroanatomy of herophilus. (2013) European neurology. 69 (5): 292-5. doi:10.1159/000346232 - Pubmed
- 4. McCormack I, Neumann P, Tubbs R. Torcular Herophili: A Review of the History of the Term and Synonyms. World Neurosurg. 2022;159:120-5. doi:10.1016/j.wneu.2021.12.104 - Pubmed
Incoming Links
- Torcular pseudomass
- Combined conduit score of sinovenous stenosis
- Occipital lobe
- Dural venous sinus thrombosis
- Fat in dural sinuses
- Chiari II malformation
- Blake's pouch cyst
- Cerebral venous system
- Occipital sinus
- Idiopathic intracranial hypertension
- Transverse sinus
- Posterior meningeal artery
- Superior sagittal sinus
- Twining's line (posterior cranial fossa)
- Dense vein sign
- Dandy-Walker malformation
- Straight sinus
- Central nervous system curriculum
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