Function: sensory nerve unified only within cisternal segment
Two main components:
- Vestibular nerve for balance
Course: arises from the Scarpa ganglion in IAC fundus
Division:- central fibers coalesce to form superior & inferior vestibular nerves
Location: posterior aspect of IAC; components separated from each other by crista falciformis - peripheral fibers innervate sensory epithelium of utricle, saccule, and semicircular canals
- central fibers coalesce to form superior & inferior vestibular nerves
- Cochlear nerve for hearing
Dysfunction:
damage from superficial siderosis← hemosiderin ← slow / repeated episodes of subarachnoid hemorrhage exposing its long cisternal segment
- deposition of hemosiderin within cerebellar folia + surrounding brainstem + along cisternal segment of CN VIII visible on gradient-echo T2*-weighted MR images
