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Morphometry, asymmetry and variations of cerebral sulci on superolateral surface of cerebrum in autopsy cases

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Abstract

Background

The cerebral sulci are known as main microanatomical borders that serve as a gateway and surgical passage to reach the ventricles or to the deeper lesions. It is a matter of curiosity that whether there is a convergence between the morphological asymmetry and the functional asymmetry, and also its significance in surgery. The aim of this study is make morphometric measurements and evaluate asymmetry of several sulci on the lateral aspects of the cerebrum in regard to main sulci and related reference key points.

Methods

A total of 100 cerebral hemispheres from 50 autopsy cadavers were examined. The lengths of several sulci on the superolateral aspect of the hemispheres and the distances between the sulci and nearby sulci and the reference key points were measured. Encountered variations were examined and photographed.

Results

Evaluation of the variations: superior frontal sulcus (SFS), inferior frontal sulcus, superior temporal sulcus (STS), precentral sulcus and postcentral sulcus were found to be discontinuous in 60, 46, 41, 84 and 70 % of the hemispheres, respectively. Evaluation of the asymmetry: the distances between SFS posterior end and longitudinal fissure, STS posterior end and lateral sulcus posterior end, as well as lengths of external occipital fissure (EOF), and discontinuous course of STS were significantly different between left and right hemispheres.

Conclusions

There is usually a morphological partial asymmetry between the right and left hemispheres for any individual. Also, some of our measurements were found to be compatible with the ones in the literature, while others were incompatible.

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Acknowledgments

We are thankful Assistant Prof. Ergün Karavelioğlu (who is a Neurosurgeon and an Anatomy PhD student) for his contribution.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Anatomy, Faculty of Medicine, Afyon Kocatepe University, 03200, Afyonkarahisar, Turkey

    Yucel Gonul & Ahmet Songur

  2. Council of Forensic Medicine, Istanbul, Turkey

    Ibrahim Uzun

  3. Department of Anatomy, Faculty of Medicine, Namık Kemal University, Tekirdag, Turkey

    Ramazan Uygur & Veli Caglar

  4. Department of Anatomy, Faculty of Medicine, Medeniyet University, Istanbul, Turkey

    Ozan Alper Alkoc

  5. Department of Forensic Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Sakarya University, Sakarya, Turkey

    Hudaverdi Kucuker

Authors
  1. Yucel Gonul
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  2. Ahmet Songur
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  3. Ibrahim Uzun
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  4. Ramazan Uygur
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  5. Ozan Alper Alkoc
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  6. Veli Caglar
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  7. Hudaverdi Kucuker
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Correspondence to Yucel Gonul.

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Gonul, Y., Songur, A., Uzun, I. et al. Morphometry, asymmetry and variations of cerebral sulci on superolateral surface of cerebrum in autopsy cases. Surg Radiol Anat 36, 651–661 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00276-013-1237-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00276-013-1237-7

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