Virchow-Robin Spaces - History

History

The appearance of Virchow-Robin spaces was first noted in 1843 by Durand Fardel. In 1851, Rudolph Virchow was the first to provide a detailed description of these microscopic spaces between the outer and inner/middle lamina of the brain vessels. Charles-Philippe Robin confirmed these findings in 1859 and was the first to describe the perivascular spaces as channels that existed in normal anatomy. The immunological significance was discovered by Wilhelm His, Sr. in 1865 based on his observations of the flow of interstitial fluid over VRS to the lymphatic system. For many years after VRS were first described, it was thought that they were in free communication with the cerebrospinal fluid in the subarachnoid space. It was later shown with the use of electron microscopy that pia mater serves as separation between the two. Upon the application of MRI, measurements of the differences of signal intensity between VRS and cerebrospinal fluid supported these findings. As research technologies continued to expand, so too did information regarding the function, anatomy and clinical significance of VRS.