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Great cerebral vein

Last revised by Craig Hacking ◉ on 15 Aug 2024

Citation, DOI, disclosures and article data

Citation:

Gaillard F, Sharma R, Scott L, et al. Great cerebral vein. Reference article, Radiopaedia.org (Accessed on 03 Mar 2025) https://doi.org/10.53347/rID-5134

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.53347/rID-5134

Permalink:

https://radiopaedia.org/articles/5134

rID:

5134

Article created:

9 Dec 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:

15 Aug 2024, Craig Hacking ◉

Disclosures:

At the time the article was last revised Craig Hacking had the following disclosures:

Philips Australia, Paid speaker at Philips Spectral CT events (ongoing)

These were assessed during peer review and were determined to not be relevant to the changes that were made.

View Craig Hacking's current disclosures

Revisions:

22 times, by 15 contributors - see full revision history and disclosures

Systems:

Vascular, Central Nervous System

Sections:

Anatomy

Tags:

galen

Synonyms:

Great cerebral vein
Great vein of Galen
Vein of Galen

The great cerebral vein, also known as the vein of Galen or great vein of Galen, is a short valveless midline venous trunk that drains the deep parts of the cerebrum, brainstem and parts of the posterior cranial fossa.

The great cerebral vein begins just superior to the pineal gland by the union of two pairs of veins; internal cerebral veins and basal veins of Rosenthal. The vein is short and valveless and curves backwards and upwards through the quadrigeminal cistern around the posterior border of the splenium of the corpus callosum to drain into the confluence of the inferior sagittal sinus and the straight sinus.

The drainage territory is highly variable although it usually directly drains the colliculi and receives numerous tributaries:

callosal veins
inferior cerebral veins (draining medial inferior temporal lobe)
posterior fossa veins ^4,5
- precentral cerebellar vein and superior vermian vein or uniting into a single draining vein called the superior cerebellar vein
- anterior pontomesencephalic vein

Relations

superior: posterior border of the splenium of corpus callosum
inferior: quadrigeminal cistern also containing the deep cerebral veins and precentral cerebellar vein
anterior: posterior border of the pineal gland, habenula and posterior commissure
posterior: straight sinus (as the great cerebral veins continuation), and cingulate gyrus
lateral: tentorial notch (Incisura of tentorium)

Embryology

The great cerebral vein arises as a normal structure in utero derived from the median prosencephalic vein of Markowski.

History and etymology

Named after Greek philosopher-physician Aelius Galenus (129-200 AD) ⁶.

Related pathology

vein of Galen malformation

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Great cerebral vein

Citation, DOI, disclosures and article data