Occipital sinus

Vein: Occipital sinus
Dural veins
The sinuses at the base of the skull. (Occipial sinus visible at bottom center, below the Foramen Magnum on image.)
Latin sinus occipitalis
Gray's subject #171 658
Drains to confluence of sinuses
MeSH Cranial+Sinuses

The occipital sinus is the smallest of the cranial sinuses.

It is situated in the attached margin of the falx cerebelli, and is generally single, but occasionally there are two.

It commences around the margin of the foramen magnum by several small venous channels, one of which joins the terminal part of the transverse sinus; it communicates with the posterior internal vertebral venous plexuses and ends in the confluence of the sinuses.

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This article was originally based on an entry from a public domain edition of Gray's Anatomy. As such, some of the information contained within it may be outdated.