Suprasellar cistern

Last revised by Luke Scott on 6 Mar 2024

The suprasellar cistern (also known as the chiasmatic cistern or pentagon of basal cisterns) is one of the cerebrospinal fluid-filled subarachnoid cisterns.

Gross anatomy

Location

The suprasellar cistern is located above the sella turcica, under the hypothalamus and between the uncus of the temporal lobes. It has roughly the shape of a pentagon at the level of the optic chiasma, and of a six-point star at the level of cerebral peduncles. 

Contents

It contains the proximal part of the Sylvian fissure (sometimes separately termed the Sylvian cistern), the optic chiasm, the infundibular stalk and the cerebrovascular circle of Willis

Relations

The interpeduncular cistern is posterior to this and is separated by the superior sheet of the Liliequist membrane of the diencephalon.

Related pathology

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