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Updated: Feb 27, 2026
Anatomical Reconstructions of the Human Cardiac Venous System using Contrast-computed Tomography of Perfusion-fixed Specimens
Published on: April 18, 2013
Anatomic comparison of veins of Labbé between autopsy, digital subtraction angiography and computed tomographic
Qiong Fang1, Anhong Jiang2, Wei Tao3
1Department of Anatomy, Anhui Medical College, Hefei, 230601, Anhui, China.
Insights
Understanding the vein of Labbé
Area of Science:
- Neurosurgery
- Vascular Anatomy
- Medical Imaging
Background:
- The vein of Labbé's drainage pattern is variable, posing a risk of damage during supratentorial surgery.
- Predicting potential injury to this vein is challenging.
Purpose of the Study:
- To correlate the microanatomy of the vein of Labbé with digital subtraction angiography (DSA) and computed tomographic venography (CTV).
- To establish a basis for preserving the vein of Labbé during supratentorial surgical approaches.
Main Methods:
- Examination of 30 human cadavers and 61 living patients.
- Cadaver heads injected with latex for venography.
- Venograms obtained using DSA or CTV in living patients.
Main Results:
- Patients classified into four groups based on vein entry into dural sinuses.
- Vein of Labbé primarily located near the STP junction (sigmoid, transverse, superior petrosal sinuses).
- No significant differences observed between cadaver, DSA, and CTV findings.
Conclusions:
- Preoperative venography aids in planning individualized surgical approaches to preserve the vein of Labbé.
- The supratentorial median approach generally has a lower risk of damaging the vein.
- Alternative surgical routes may be necessary if the vein is close to the sinus confluence or meningeal veins are elongated.
Objective:
The drainage portion of the vein of Labbé varies, and it is difficult to predict whether the operation is likely to damage this vein. The aim of this study was to correlate the microanatomy of the vein of Labbé with digital subtraction angiography (DSA) and computed tomographic venography (CTV), in order to provide a basis for the preservation of the vein of Labbé during a supratentorial surgical approach.
Methods:
A total of 30 human cadavers (60 sides) and 61 living patients (110 sides) were examined in this study. Each cadaver head was injected with blue latex via the superior sagittal sinus and the internal jugular veins. The venograms of each patient were obtained from the venous phases of DSA (60 sides for 36 patients) or CTV (50 sides for 25 patients).
Results:
The patients were divided into four subgroups based on the location where a vein entered the dural sinus: the transverse sinus group, the tentorial group, the petrosal group, and the upper-transverse sinus group. The veins of Labbé in transverse sinus group and petrosal group directly entered dural sinus. The veins of Labbé in tentorial group and upper-transverse sinus group indirectly entered transverse sinus via the tentorium sinus or the upper-transverse sinus. These sinuses were meningeal veins running through two layers of the cerebral dura mater. The length of meningeal veins in these groups was 10.0 ± 7.2 mm. The veins of Labbé were mainly localized around the STP junction, which was the confluence of sigmoid sinus, transverse sinus, and superior petrosal sinus. The distance between the dural entrance of veins and the STP junction was 16.8 ± 10.2 mm. There was no significant difference in the results of the DSA and CTV examinations when compared to the observations in cadavers.
Conclusions:
Preoperative venograms are useful to design an individualized surgical approach for the preservation of the vein of Labbé. In general, the supratentorial median approach has the least chance to damage this vein. However, when preoperative venograms show that the vein of Labbé is too close to the confluence of sinuses or the meningeal veins are too long, an alternative approach should be chosen.
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