[The topology of the motor pathways in the internal capsule (author's transl)]

The topology of the motor pathways in the posterior peduncle of the internal capsule is discussed with regard to the literature and computer tomographic analysis of three patients with capsular lesions. Contradictory findings from morphologic, stereotactic, and computer tomographic investigations of the topology of the motor pathways in the posterior peduncle of the internal capsule have led to concepts which are mutually incompatible. It was first maintained that the motor pathways are located in the anterior third or two-thirds of the posterior peduncle and arranged somatotopically in the craniocaudal direction. A new interpretation which has received wide support from stereotactic investigations and studies of the pathologic anatomy of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis agrees on the somatotopic arrangement, but claims that the motor pathways are located rather in the posterior third of the posterior peduncle. By including ontogenetic factors and a critical relativistic consideration of the somatotopic arrangement of the posterior peduncle of the internal capsule in the analysis of the topology of the motor pathways in the posterior peduncle of the internal capsule, it can be demonstrated that the contradictions of published results and hypotheses are only apparent, thus making a uniform interpretation possible.