Meningeal injury | Meninges

Meningeal injury

Depending on which area of the meninges is injured, different consequences follow and different treatments are required: Bridge veins run between the cytoplasm, the so-called arachnoidea mater, and the hard meninges, the so-called dura mater. If an injury occurs in the area of these veins, a venous bleeding, also called subdural bleeding, occurs. Since there is only low pressure in veins, bleeding from the bridging veins is also much slower than bleeding from arteries.Symptoms such as impaired vision, dizziness and severe headaches only appear after a few hours.

If, on the other hand, an injury occurs under the spider’s web skin, this is called subarachnoid hemorrhage (sub= lat. for under). Since it is mainly arteries that run under high pressure, symptoms appear within seconds and it is an urgent medical emergency.

If the arteries that supply the meninges themselves are affected, e.g. the A. meningea media, this is also an arterial hemorrhage. Since these arteries run between the hard meninges and the skull bone, a space is created here which under normal circumstances does not occur in the skull. This bleeding is called “epidural bleeding“. This bleeding should also be treated medically as soon as possible.

Metastases in the meninges

In the case of tumor diseases, cells can “migrate” via the blood and lymphatic system and settle in another part of the body. This process is called metastasis, and the resulting metastases of the tumor are accordingly metastases. Metastases of the meninges can grow in the skull/brain and cause similar symptoms to brain tumors.

Since different areas in the brain perform different tasks, different types of metastases can cause different failures depending on the exact location and size of the metastases of the meninges. Treatment is similar to that for a brain tumor and the prognosis depends on various factors, including the time of spread of the main tumor, known in medical terminology as the primary tumor. If the primary tumor has spread late, the prognosis is better. Most affected people die from the primary tumor and not from the brain metastases.