The Meckel's Cave: What Hides Within?

The Meckel's cave is a dural recess in the posteromedial portion of the middle cranial fossa and is the location of the trigeminal ganglion. Disease processes that affect the Meckel's cave may lead to symptoms of trigeminal neuralgia. The Meckel's cave can represent a site of primary pathology or an area to which disease processes extend. The anatomy of the Meckel's cave is detailed through the use of drawings with correlative MR imaging. A number of pathologic entities that affect the Meckel's cave are presented and range from congenital conditions (eg, petrous apex cephaloceles, ruptured dermoid cysts, epidermoid tumors) to inflammatory and granulomatous conditions (eg, neurosarcoidosis and Tolosa-Hunt syndrome). Benign and malignant tumors (eg, schwannomas, meningiomas, metastatic lesions) as well as vascular conditions, Glycerol rhizotomy, and uncommon processes (eg, amyloidomas and Lyme disease) are also reviewed.

Learning Objective: To list the disease processes that affect the Meckel's cave and describe each entity's radiographic appearance.