Virchow-Robin Spaces - Clinical Significance

Clinical Significance

The clinical significance of Virchow-Robin spaces comes primarily from their tendency to dilate. The importance of dilation is hypothesized to be based on changes in shape rather than size. Enlarged Virchow-Robin spaces have been observed most commonly in the basal ganglia, specifically on the lenticulostriate arteries. They have also been observed along the paramedial mesencephalothalamic artery and the substantia nigra in the mesencephalon, the brain region below the insula, the dentate nucleus in the cerebellum, and the corpus callosum, as well as the brain region directly above it, the cingulate gyrus. Upon the clinical application of MRI, it was shown in several studies that VRS dilation and lacunar infracts are the most commonly observed histological correlates of signaling abnormalities.