Brain Anatomy Page 1

The Radiology Assistant

Brain Anatomy
Robin Smithuis
Radiology department, Rijnland Hospital Leiderdorp, the Netherlands.

Axial anatomy Publicationdate:24-11-2008

Specific regions
Circle of Willis On some of the images you can click to get an
Anterior commissure enlarged view, but this does not work on the iPhone
Thalamic level application.
Pituitary gland
Hippocampus

Axial anatomy

Scroll through the images on the left.

Click on arrows to scroll through the anatomy

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Specific regions

Circle of Willis

A1-segment
Anterior cerebral artery from carotid bifurcation to
anterior communicating artery gives rise to the
medial lenticulostriate arteries.
A2-segment
Part of anterior cerebral artery distal to the anterior
communicating artery.
P1-segment
Part of the posterior cerebral artery proximal to the
posterior communicating artery.
The posterior communicating artery is between the
carotid bifurcation and the posterior cerebral artery)
P2-segment
Part of the posterior cerebral artery distal to the
posterior communicating artery
M1-segment
Horizontal part of the middle cerebral artery which
gives rise to the lateral lenticulostriate arteries which
supply most of the basal ganglia.
The M2-segment is the part in the sylvian fissure and
the M3-segment is the cortical segment.
Cisterna ambiens
Also called ambient cistern is a cistern of the
subarachnoid space between the posterior end of the
corpus callosum and the superior surface of the
cerebellum.
It is sometimes defined as including the
quadrigerminal cistern.

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On the left a coronal view of the segments of the

middle cerebral artery.

Horizontal M1-segment
gives rise to the lateral lenticulostriate arteries which
supply part of head and body of caudate, globus
pallidus, putamen and the posterior limb of the
internal capsule.
Notice that the medial lenticulostriate arteries arise
from the A1-segment of the anterior cerebral artery.
Sylvian M2-segment
Branches supply the temporal lobe and insular cortex
(sensory language area of Wernicke), parietal lobe
(sensory cortical areas) and inferolateral frontal lobe
Cortical M3-segment
Branches supply the lateral cerebral cortex

Anterior commissure
The anterior commissure is a bundle of white fibers
that connects the two cerebral hemispheres across the
middle line.
At this level frequently perivascular CSF-spaces of
Virchow-Robin are seen.

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Thalamic level
At this level the basal ganglia are seen.
The two dark lines medially of the thalamus are the
internal cerebral veins.

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Pituitary gland
On the left a coronal illustration of the anatomy of the
pituitary gland and the surrounding structures.

Read more about the pituitary gland in the article on

sellar and parasellar tumors

Hippocampus
On the left a coronal illustration of the area of the
hippocampus.

Read more about the hippocampus in the article on

the role of MRI in dementia

References
1. The whole brain atlas
Neuroimaging Primer - Harvard Medical School lecture notes: Introduction to Neuroimaging
by Keith Johnson and Alex Becker
2. the Brain Module
Developed by Jeffrey E. Zapawa and Anthony L. Alcantara, MD

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