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Dural venous sinuses

Last revised by Craig Hacking on 20 Dec 2021

Citation, DOI, disclosures and article data

Citation:

Gaillard F, Hacking C, Al Kabbani A, et al. Dural venous sinuses. Reference article, Radiopaedia.org (Accessed on 29 Nov 2023) https://doi.org/10.53347/rID-5052

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.53347/rID-5052

Permalink:

https://radiopaedia.org/articles/5052

rID:

5052

Article created:

26 Nov 2008, Frank Gaillard ◈

Disclosures:

At the time the article was created Frank Gaillard had no recorded disclosures.

View Frank Gaillard's current disclosures

Last revised:

20 Dec 2021, Craig Hacking ◉ ◈

Disclosures:

At the time the article was last revised Craig Hacking had no recorded disclosures.

View Craig Hacking's current disclosures

Revisions:

14 times, by 11 contributors - see full revision history and disclosures

Systems:

Vascular, Central Nervous System

Sections:

Anatomy

Tags:

refs, refs link

Synonyms:

Dural venous sinus
Dural sinus
Dural sinuses

Dural venous sinuses are venous channels located intracranially between the two layers of the dura mater (endosteal layer and meningeal layer) and can be conceptualised as trapped epidural veins. Unlike other veins in the body, they run alone and not parallel to arteries. Furthermore, they are valveless, allowing for bidirectional blood flow from and into intracranial veins.

Together the dural venous sinuses form the major drainage pathways from the brain, predominantly to the internal jugular veins.

It is important to note that the draining territories of intracranial veins are different from those of arterial territories of the major cerebral arteries.

The main dural venous sinuses can be classified as midline unpaired sinuses and bilateral sinuses that often drain to midline vessels: