Trigeminal cave

The trigeminal cave (also known as Meckel's cave or cavum trigeminale) is a pouch of dura mater containing cerebrospinal fluid.

Trigeminal cave
The trigeminal ganglion and its branches represented here as 1st division, 2nd division, and 3rd division. The trigeminal cave houses this ganglion.
Details
Identifiers
Latin	cavum Meckeli, cavum trigeminale
TA98	A14.1.01.108
TA2	5379
Anatomical terminology [edit on Wikidata]

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:

1. cerebellar tentorium superolaterally
2. lateral wall of the cavernous sinus superomedially
3. clivus medially
4. 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.^[1]

History

Etymology

It is named for Johann Friedrich Meckel, the Elder.^[2][3]