Pineal recess
Recessus pinealis
Definition
The pineal recess refers to an extension of the third ventricle into the pineal stalk, of the pineal gland.
Details suggest that when the pineal gland drops backwards and downwards from the posterior wall of third ventricle by its pineal stalk, it comes to lie above and behind the midbrain. During its descent, the pulling force of the pineal gland sucks in part of the third ventricle into the stalk, giving rise to a pineal recess. The recess is continuous with the cavity of the third ventricle and thus contains cerebrospinal fluid. It is sandwiched between superior and inferior walls of the stalk. Two important commissures–the posterior and the habenular commissures–pass through the inferior and superior walls of the pineal recess, respectively.
References
Text written by Muhammad A. Javaid, MD, PhD © 2022 IMAIOS.
Snell, R.S. (2010). ‘Chapter 7: The Cerebrum’, in Clinical Neuroanatomy. (7th ed.) Philadelphia: Wolters Kluwer Health/Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, pp. 255-256.
Standring, S. and Gray, H. (2016). ‘Chapter 23: Diencephalon’ in Gray’s anatomy The anatomical Basis of Clinical Practice. (41st ed.) New York: Elsevier, pp. 362-363.
Rubino, P.A., Arévalo, R.P. and Nuñez, M.A. (2019). ‘Chapter 24 - Approaches to Third Ventricular Tumors’, in Comprehensive Overview of Modern Surgical Approaches to Intrinsic Brain Tumors. Academic Press, pp. 405-415. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-811783-5.00024-0
