Practice Quiz - Scalp, Cranial Cavity, Meninges & Brain
    Below are written questions from previous quizzes and exams. Click here for a Practical Quiz - old format or Practical Quiz - new format.

  1. During an intramural baseball game a player is hit in the side of the head, between the eye and the ear. He immediately loses consciousness, wakes up momentarily and then becomes comatose. He is rushed to the ER and is immediately given a CT scan. The scan shows a skull fracture and an accumulation of blood between the dura and the cranial bone on the side of his head, compressing his cerebrum. He is rushed to surgery where a hole is bored into his skull to relieve the pressure. After a few tense hours, he regains consciousness and has an uneventful recovery. The hemorrhage from the fracture would be described as:
    Epidural
    Intracerebral
    Subaponeurotic
    Subarachnoid
    Subdural
  2. An infant was diagnosed as having hydrocephalus. It was determined that there was a blockage in the ventricular system of the baby's brain between the third and fourth ventricles. The blockage therefore must have involved the:
    Central canal
    Cerebral aqueduct
    Foramen of Luschka (lateral foramen)
    Foramen of Magendie (medial foramen)
    Interventricular foramen
  3. An 84-year old woman suffers a stroke, with paralysis on the right side of her body. Neurological tests show that the intracerebral hemorrhage has interrupted the blood supply to the posterior part of the frontal, the parietal and medial portions of the temporal lobes of the left cerebral hemisphere. Which vessel was involved?
    Anterior cerebral artery
    Great cerebral vein
    Middle cerebral artery
    Middle meningeal artery
    Posterior cerebral artery
  4. A sixty-four-year old man was diagnosed with an acoustic neuroma (tumor of the VIIIth cranial nerve) where it entered the temporal bone. What other cranial nerve might also be affected since this nerve uses the same foramen as the VIIIth in its course?
    Abducens
    Facial
    Glossopharyngeal
    Trigeminal
    Vagus
  5. Infections may spread from the nasal cavity to the meninges along the olfactory nerves, as its fibers pass from the mucosa of the nasal cavity to the olfactory bulb via the:
    Cribriform plate of the ethmoid
    Crista galli
    Foramen caecum
    Superior orbital fissure
  6. The "danger zone" of the scalp is recognized as which of the following layers?
    Galea aponeurotica
    Loose connective tissue
    Pericranium
    Skin
    Subcutaneous connective tissue
  7. The presence of blood in a spinal tap taken from an individual with a closed head injury signals arterial bleeding into the:
    Cavernous sinus
    Epidural space
    Subarachnoid space
    Subdural space
  8. An infection in which scalp layer is likely to spread most readily?
    Skin
    Connective tissue layer
    Aponeurotic layer
    Loose areolar tissue
    Pericranium
  9. A patient who has sustained a fracture to the middle cranial fossa following a fall from a height, might have any of these nerves injured EXCEPT:
    Trigeminal
    Oculomotor
    Abducens
    Trochlear
    Hypoglossal
  10. The most likely source of blood in a patient with an epidural hemorrhage is:
    Vertebral artery
    Middle meningeal artery
    Superior cerebral veins
    Anterior cerebral artery
    Circle of Willis
  11. In a fall from a horse, a rider sustains a severe neck injury at the C6 level. In addition to crushing the spinal cord, the left transverse process of the C6 vertebra is fractured. What artery is endangered?
    Common carotid
    Costocervical
    Inferior thyroid
    Internal carotid
    Vertebral
  12. A 35-year-old man was admitted to the hospital complaining of double vision (diplopia), inability to see close objects, and blurred vision in the right eye. A vertebrobasilar angiogram revealed an aneurysm of the superior cerebellar artery close to its origin on the right side. The doctor attributed the symptoms to the compression of an adjacent cranial nerve by the aneurysm. The compressed nerve is the:
    Abducens (CN VI)
    Oculomotor (CN III)
    Optic (CN II)
    Trigeminal (CN V)
    Trochlear (CN IV)
  13. An elderly patient developed fever and worsening headache a few days after sustaining a scalp laceration and subsequent infection due to a car accident. At the hospital the case was diagnosed as meningitis and superior sagittal sinus thrombosis. The attending physician suggested that infection to the sinus initially spread through one of the scalp layers. The scalp layer involved is:
    Areolar tissue
    Connective tissue
    Epicranial aponeurosis
    Periosteum
    Skin
  14. While riding her bicycle on campus without a helmet a student is hit by a car and falls, hitting her head on the pavement. She is brought to the Emergency Room in an unconscious state with signs of a closed head injury. Tests reveal blood in her cerebrospinal fluid taken from a spinal tap. Diagnosis is of torn cerebral veins as they pass from the brain to the superior sagittal sinus. From which of the following was the bloody fluid taken?
    Cavernous sinus
    Epidural space
    Subarachnoid space
    Subdural space
    Verterbal venous plexus
  15. You have been asked to assess the neurological deficit that might exist in a patient diagnosed with cavernous sinus thrombosis. You will focus your examination on cranial nerves related to the sinus that includes all the following EXCEPT:
    Abducens (CN VI)
    Facial (CN VII)
    Oculomotor (CN III)
    Ophthalmic division of the trigeminal nerve (CN V1)
    Trochlear (CN IV)
  16. The glossopharyngeal nerve exits the skull via what opening?
    Foramen ovale
    Carotid canal
    Jugular foramen
    Hypoglossal canal
    Stylomastoid foramen
  17. An infant was found to have hydrocephalus. Studies revealed that the hydrocephalus was caused because CSF could not get out of the third ventricle. The passage blocked was the:
    Central canal
    Cerebral aqueduct
    Interventricular foramen
    Lateral foramen (of Luschka)
    Medial foramen (of Magendie)
  18. A person develops a cavernous sinus thrombosis. Because of its relationship to the sinus, which cranial nerve might be affected?
    Abducens
    Facial
    Mandibular V3
    Olfactory
    Optic
  19. Blockage of the flow of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) within the cerebral aqueduct (of Sylvius) normally would result in the enlargement of all of the following ventricular spaces except the:
    Fourth ventricle
    Interventricular foramen (of Monro)
    Lateral ventricle
    Third ventricle
  20. All of the following nerves exit the cranial cavity by way of bony openings located in the middle cranial fossa EXCEPT:
    Abducens
    Trochlear
    Oculomotor
    Trigeminal
    Facial
  21. During childbirth, an excessive anteroposterior compression of the head may tear the anterior attachment of the falx cerebri from the tentorium cerebelli. The bleeding that follows is likely to be from which of the following venous sinuses?
    Occipital sinus
    Sigmoid sinus
    Straight sinus
    Superior sagittal sinus
    Transverse sinus
  22. The inferior sagittal sinus is found in the free edge of what structure?
    Diaphragma sellae
    Falx cerebelli
    Falx cerebri
    Filum terminale
    Tentorium cerebelli