Surgical anatomy of microneurosurgical sulcal key points

The brain sulci constitute the main microanatomic delimiting landmarks and surgical corridors of modern microneurosurgery. Because of the frequent difficulty in intraoperatively localizing and visually identifying the brain sulci with assurance, the main purpose of this study was to establish cortical/sulcal key points of primary microneurosurgical importance to provide a sulcal anatomic framework for the placement of craniotomies and to facilitate the main sulci intraoperative identification.

The study was performed through the evaluation of 32 formalin-fixed cerebral hemispheres of 16 adult cadavers, which had been removed from the skulls after the introduction of plastic catheters through properly positioned burr holes necessary for the evaluation of cranial-cerebral relationships. Three-dimensional anatomic and surgical images are displayed to illustrate the use of sulcal key points.

The points studied were the anterior sylvian point, the inferior rolandic point, the intersection of the inferior frontal sulcus with the precentral sulcus, the intersection of the superior frontal sulcus with the precentral sulcus, the superior rolandic point, the intersection of the intraparietal sulcus with the postcentral sulcus, the superior point of the parieto-occipital sulcus, the euryon (the craniometric point that corresponds to the center of the parietal tuberosity), the posterior point of the superior temporal sulcus, and the opisthocranion, which corresponds to the most prominent point of the occipital bossa. These points presented regular neural and cranial-cerebral relationships and can be considered consistent microsurgical cortical key points.

These sulcal and gyral key points can be particularly useful for initial intraoperative sulci identification and dissection. Together, they compose a framework that can help in the understanding of hemispheric lesion localization, in the placement of supratentorial craniotomies, as landmarks for the transsulcal approaches to periventricular and intraventricular lesions, and in orienting the anatomic removal of gyral sectors that contain infiltrative tumors.