 Interventricular foramina (neuroanatomy)

The interventricular foramina are the paired openings through which the lateral ventricles communicate with the third ventricle. Each opening connects its own side's lateral ventricle to the shared midline cavity. This arrangement provides a route for cerebrospinal fluid to reach the rest of the ventricular system.^[ref]

Both sides reach the shared third ventricle, which joins the fourth ventricle through the cerebral aqueduct.

Measurements add a temporal picture to this connection map. In a 1991 study, phase-contrast magnetic resonance imaging encoded the direction of cerebrospinal fluid movement across the cardiac cycle. The ventricular measurements contained systolic and diastolic flow components, with essentially simultaneous timing at the interventricular opening and cerebral aqueduct. Anatomical continuity and measured pulsatile transport describe complementary features of the same pathway.^[ref]