Bassett Collection of Stereoscopic Images of Human Anatomy

Collection Home

Dissection of left orbit from a lateral approach

Contents of orbit in relation to cranial cavity, brain stem and cavernous sinus

Image #55-5

KEYWORDS: Bones cartilage joints, Brain, Diencephalon, Exocrine and endocrine, Eye, Face, Peripheral nervous system.

Creative Commons

Stanford holds the copyright to the David L. Bassett anatomical images and has assigned Creative Commons license Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International to all of the images.

For additional information regarding use and permissions, please contact Dr. Drew Bourn at dbourn@stanford.edu.

Dissection of left orbit from a lateral approach

Contents of orbit in relation to cranial cavity, brain stem and cavernous sinus

The left half of the calvaria has been removed and the cerebral hemispheres cut away to expose the optic chiasm (4, lower pointer) and the left optic tract(19) which passes posteriorly to the lateral geniculate body (17). The cavernous sinus has been opened and the contents of the pterygopalatine fossa dissected. The lacrimal gland (7) has been partially resected and structures within the orbit more fully exposed than in previous views. Details of the dissection of the cavernous sinus are to be found in reels 50-7 and 51-1 ff.

1 .	Falx cerebri
2 .	Anterior cranial fossa right
3 .	Lesser wing sphenoid bone (covered by dura mater)
4 .	Upper pointer: Internal carotid artery right Lower pointer: Optic chiasm
5 .	Olfactory tracts
6 .	Superior rectus muscle
7 .	Superior lacrimal gland (partially removed)
8 .	Lacrimal artery
9 .	Lateral rectus muscle
10 .	Oculomotor nerve (III) (branch to inferior oblique muscle)
11 .	Zygomatic nerve
12 .	Internal maxillary artery
13 .	Lateral plate of pterygoid process
14 .	Middle cranial fossa right
15 .	Upper pointer: Temporal bone (squamous part) (in background) Lower pointer: Pineal body
16 .	Base of peduncle (cut across at transition into internal capsule)
17 .	Lateral geniculate body left
18 .	Edge of tentorium cerebelli (brain stem protrudes upward through tentorial incisure)
19 .	Upper pointer: Optic tract Lowerpointer: Mesencephalon (pointer on base of peduncle)
20 .	Upper pointer: Oculomotor nerve (III) within subarachnoid space Lower pointer: Oculomotor nerve (II) within cavernous sinus
21 .	Trochlear nerve (IV) within cavernous sinus
22 .	Ophthalmic nerve (V) within cavernous sinus
23 .	Semilunar ganglion (trigeminal)
24 .	Upper pointer: Maxillary nerve (V) within cavernous sinus Lower pointer: Mandibular nerve (V)
25 .	Middle meningeal artery (cut across)
26 .	Mastoid cells (dissected)