The venous drainage of the brain and meninges can be divided into the diploic veins, meningeal veins, dural sinuses, as well as the superficial and deep cerebral veins.

The diploic veins are small irregular endothelial-lined channels coursing between the inner and outer tables of the skull. These communicate with the extracranial venous system, the meningeal veins, and the dural sinuses. They are rarely seen using angiography unless enlarged, as in the case of an arterial-venous malformation (AVM).

Emissary veins are conduits between the extracranial scalp veins and the diploic and intracranial venous systems. These veins are valveless and therefore can transmit infection from the extracranial to the intracranial compartment.

The meningeal veins are epidural veins that lie within the dura draining the falx cerebri, the tentorium, and the cranial dura. They run in shallow grooves on the inner table of the skull to communicate with the dural sinuses or traverse extracranially to the pterygoid plexus in the deep face or vertebral plexus around the cervical spine.

The dural sinuses are venous channels lined by endothelium that are formed by opposing layers of dura. They are valveless, trabeculated, and provide the major drainage pathway for the cranial cavity. The major dural sinuses include the superior sagittal sinus, inferior sagittal sinus, straight sinus, occipital sinus, transverse sinuses, petrosal sinuses, sigmoid sinuses, sphenoparietal sinuses, and cavernous sinuses.