Spencer S. Eccles Health Sciences Library, University of Utah
Abstract
Ten years ago the cavernous sinus was widely considered sacrosanct. This was in part related to the concept of the cavernous sinus as a blood filled space with variable septae completely surrounding the carotid artery (traceable to Winslow who in 1732 compared it to the corpus cavernosum of the penis). This anatomic misconception, its surgically remote location, and the presence of the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth cranial nerves within its lateral wall combined to make it a "no-man's-land.
