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Anatomical variations and neurosurgical significance of Liliequist’s membrane

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Abstract

Introduction

Liliequist’s membrane is an arachnoid membrane that forms a barrier within the basilar cisternal complex. This structure is an important landmark in approaches to the sellar and parasellar regions. The importance of this membrane was largely recognized after the advance of neuroendoscopic techniques. Many studies were, thereafter, published reporting different anatomic findings.

Method

A detailed search for studies reporting anatomic and surgical findings of Liliequist’s membrane was performed using “PubMed,” and included all the available literature. Manual search for manuscripts was also conducted on references of papers reporting reviews.

Results

Liliequist’s membrane has received more attention recently. The studies have reported widely variable results, which were systematically organized in this paper to address the controversy.

Conclusion

Regardless of its clinical and surgical significance, the anatomy of Liliequist’s membrane is still a matter of debate.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. California Brain Institute, Los Robles hospital and Medical Center, 215 W Janss Road, Thousand Oaks, CA, 91360, USA

    Martin M. Mortazavi, Nimer Adeeb, Nicole Hose & Elham Modammadirad

  2. Pediatric Neurosurgery, Children’s Hospital of Alabama, Birmingham, AL, USA

    Fareed Rizq, Olivia Harmon, Pejman Taghavi, Brandon G. Rocque & R. Shane Tubbs

  3. International Neuroscience Institute, Hannover, Germany

    Mehrnoush Gorjian

  4. Department of Anatomical Sciences, St. George’s University, True Blue, Grenada

    R. Shane Tubbs

  5. Center of Anatomy and Human Identification, University of Dundee, Dundee, UK

    R. Shane Tubbs

Authors
  1. Martin M. Mortazavi
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  2. Fareed Rizq
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  3. Olivia Harmon
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Correspondence to Martin M. Mortazavi.

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Mortazavi, M.M., Rizq, F., Harmon, O. et al. Anatomical variations and neurosurgical significance of Liliequist’s membrane. Childs Nerv Syst 31, 15–28 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00381-014-2590-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00381-014-2590-5

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