Deep cerebral venous system in man

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Abstract
In 35 autopsies, the deep cerebral venous system down to the capillary level was filled with fine-grained, X-ray contrast. The filling was performed by retrograde injection into the great cerebral vein which was possible because the deep cerebral veins have no valves and relatively narrow anastomos?s. The brains were examined with microradiography. The area of drainage of the deep cerebral venous system could be mapped out in detail in each brain. It comprised small parts of the cerebral cortex, most of the cerebral subcortical nuclei, and central white matter. The appearance and localization of the anastomoses between the deep and superficial cerebral veins could be studied. About 2000 to 4000 anastomoses having a caliber of 0.05 to 0.35 mm were observed in every brain. Exceptionally wide anastomoses were found between the deep cerebral veins of the basal ganglia and middle cerebral vein in 6 patients, and in 4 others wide lateral anastomotic mesencephalic veins were seen. Direction of anastomoses was toward large superficial venous trunks. In another 7 autopsies, a similar retrograde injection was made into the superior longitudinal sinus. Contrast filling was fragmentary because of wide and numerous anastomoses to superficial cerebral and extracerebral veins.