The trigeminal cave (also known as Meckel's cave or cavum trigeminale) is a pouch of dura mater containing cerebrospinal fluid.
Structure The trigeminal cave is formed by the two layers of dura mater (endosteal and meningeal) which are part of an evagination of the cerebellar tentorium near the apex of the petrous part of the temporal bone. It envelops the trigeminal ganglion. It is bounded by the dura overlying four structures:
cerebellar tentorium superolaterally lateral wall of the cavernous sinus superomedially clivus medially posterior petrous face inferolaterally
Within the dural confines of the trigeminal cave, there is a continuation of subarachnoid space along the posterior aspect of the cave, representing a continuation of the cerebral basal cisterns.Burr HS, Robinson GB: An anatomical study of the gasserian ganglion with particular reference to the nature and extend of Meckel’s Cave (M,C). Anatomical Record 29:269-282, 1925.
History Etymology It is named for Johann Friedrich Meckel, the Elder.J. F. Meckel. Tractatus anatomico physiologicus de quinto pare nervorum cerebri. Göttingen 1748.
References