Every doctor and healthcare worker frequently encounters cases such as stroke, cerebral circulatory disorders, and clot formation throughout their professional lives. From this perspective, knowing the course of the vessels and the areas they supply is of great importance for diagnosis and establishing the appropriate treatment protocol. Knowing these circulatory pathways is a fundamental tool for determining which vessel is occluded or bleeding, and consequently which brain area is affected, based on a patient's stroke symptoms (e.g., unilateral arm/leg weakness, speech disturbance, vision loss).

The central nervous system is primarily supplied by four arteries and their branches: two arteria vertebralis and two arteria carotis interna. The A. carotis interna arteries and their branches supply the cerebral hemispheres, with the exception of parts of the occipital and temporal lobes, while the remaining parts of the hemispheres, the brainstem, and the cerebellum are supplied by the A. vertebralis arteries and their branches.

Clot formation in the cerebral venous sinuses (cerebral venous sinus thrombosis) can cause headaches, papilledema, and seizures. Venous blood in the brain collects in the sinus durae matris via superficial and deep veins. While superficial veins open directly into the sinuses of the brain via bridging veins, deep veins first collect the blood in the v. magna cerebri (great cerebral vein), and then transport it to the dura mater sinuses via the sinus rectus (straight sinus). The venous blood collected in all these sinuses ultimately returns to the heart largely through the vena jugularis interna (internal jugular vein).