It may be affected by arteriovenous fistulas, a thrombus, major trauma, or surgical damage, and may be imaged with many radiology techniques.

[1] The confluence of sinuses is important in drainage of venous blood from the brain.

[1] Angiography, CT scan, magnetic resonance imaging, medical ultrasound, or interventional radiology may be used.

[1] The confluence of sinuses may also be known as the confluens sinuum (from Latin), or the torcular Herophili (or more simply the torcula).

This is named after Herophilos, the Greek anatomist who first used cadavers for the systematic study of anatomy.

This term more precisely refers to the concavity in the bone, which is the location of the confluence of sinuses.