The new proposed magnetic resonance areas of the cavernous sinus and their relation to the neurosurgical triangles.

MRI appears to be the best contemporary method with which to evaluate cavernous sinus anatomy. Based on anatomic landmarks that are easily detectable in the standard MRI examination, the cavernous sinus is divided into six areas. Each of the newly defined areas corresponds to the previously described neuroanatomic triangles. Evaluation of the newly defined areas in a plane perpendicular to these triangles on a MRI scan permits expansion of these two-dimensional areas into three-dimensional spaces; thus, the neurosurgical approach can be observed and their anatomic and pathologic content examined. Radiologic and surgical evaluation of the cavernous sinus is presented.