Micro-angiographical studies of the medullary venous system of the cerebral hemisphere

Abstract

In order to identify the zones of convergence of the medullary veins of the cerebral white matter, gelatin-mixed barium sulfate was injected into normal brains at autopsy. A catheter was inserted into the internal jugular veins or the carotid and vertebral arteries. Serial soft tissue roentgenograms of whole brains and brain slices were used to determine the zones of convergence. The deep med-ullary veins had four zones of covergence before draining into the subependymal veins: the first (superficial), second (candelabra), third (palmate) and fourth (subependymal). The zones of various convergence within the white matter were due to the crossing of nerve fiber tracts (e.g. the pes of the corona radiata, the radiation of the corpus callosum, the superior occipitofrontal fasciculus, the tapetum and the sagittal strata). Similar but less conspicuous information about the parenchymal arteries was observed in the arterial injection studies. These results suggest that micro-angiographical studies of the medullary veins of the cerebral white matter provide detailed information on veno-architecture and convergence zones. This information may help in understanding the pathogenesis of medullary venous malformations.

The use of a cerebral perfusion and immersion–fixation process for subsequent white matter dissection

“…In the deep WM, at the level of the External Capsule (ExC) and between the corona radiata (CR) and the callosal radiation (CaR), venous structures with a radial and centripetal direction were identified. These vessels may correspond to the deep medullary veins described by Okudera at the so-called venous convergence zones of the deep WM (Okudera et al, 1999) ( Fig. 6A-C).…”

“…The trans-cortical arteries, which run straight from the cortical surface to the deep WM with a centripetally linear direction (Nonaka et al, 2003a,b;Okudera et al, 1999), were depicted. Trans-cortical arteries with different kind of side branches and multiple arterial anastomoses were exposed in the deep WM as shown in Fig.…”

Diffuse vascular injury: convergent-type hemorrhage in the supratentorial white matter on susceptibility-weighted image in cases of severe traumatic brain damage

“…In addition, the beadlike hemorrhages were arranged to converge into the anterior horn of the lateral ventricle. This arrangement suggests that the hemorrhages were distributed along the supratentorial medullary veins [16]. The medullary veins of the frontal lobe, which drains into the deep venous system, converge at the frontal horn of the lateral ventricle and merge into the septal vein.…”

Unilateral Calcification of the Caudate and Putamen: Association with Underlying Developmental Venous Anomaly

“…The basis of this capsular sparing remains speculative but may reflect differential vulnerability of the deep gray matter versus white matter to chronic venous hypertension, or it may reflect some degree of variable anatomy of the deep medullary venous zones of convergence, as recently illustrated by Okudera et al 30 We expect that drainage of a DVA more posteriorly rather than toward the frontal horn could result in a pattern of unilateral posterior A 70-year-old woman presenting with acute onset of headache and left-sided weakness. A, Noncontrast head CT scan demonstrates a large right frontoparietal lobar hemorrhage with surrounding vasogenic edema.…”