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CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · Asian J Neurosurg 2021; 16(02): 349-354
DOI: 10.4103/ajns.AJNS_505_20
Original Article

Morphology and morphometry of human paracentral lobule: An anatomical study with its application in neurosurgery

Apurba Patra
Department of Anatomy, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Bathinda, Punjab
,
Harsimarjit Kaur
1   Department of Anatomy, Government Medical College, Patiala, Punjab
,
Priti Chaudhary
Department of Anatomy, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Bathinda, Punjab
,
Adil Asghar
2   Department of Anatomy, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Patna, Bihar
,
Anjali Singal
Department of Anatomy, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Bathinda, Punjab
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Background: The human paracentral lobule (PCL) is the medial continuation of the precentral and postcentral gyri. It has important functional area related to the lower limb and perineum. Its visible surface that corresponds to magnetic resonance imaging scout images varies in morphology, so it requires exact data. Studies related to such data are rare. With such a facile, we studied the morphology and morphometry of PCL. Materials and Methods: Fifty formalin-fixed adult human brains dissected in the midsagittal plane were used in this study. First, the morphological types of PCL and its boundary were determined, followed by morphometry of its extrasulcal surface using digital vernier calipers. Measurements were done along the anteroposterior axis (length) and vertical axis (height). In addition to that, the extent of motor and sensory area into PCL was also measured. Results: Three distinct morphological types of PCL were found: continuous (2%), partially segmented (91%), and completely segmented type (7%). In completely segmented type, a short transitional lobulolimbic gyrus was also found in three cases. The mean extrasulcal surface of the left PCL was significantly larger, both in males (left 10.67 cm2 vs. right 8.80 cm2) and in females (left 8.80 cm2 vs. right 6.99 cm2). Irrespective of gender and sidedness, motor area was significantly larger than the sensory area. Conclusion: Reported data will be useful in diagnosis and treatment of diseases affecting the human PCL. Variations in the distribution of sensorimotor cortex over PCL may help further assessment of hemispheric lateralization and the location of central sulcus as a reliable indicator of cytoarchitectonic borders.

Key-words:

Cerebral hemisphere - morphology - morphometry - paracentral lobule

Financial support and sponsorship

Nil.




Publication History

Received: 24 November 2020

Accepted: 26 January 2021

Article published online:
16 August 2022

© 2021. Asian Congress of Neurological Surgeons. This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonDerivative-NonCommercial License, permitting copying and reproduction so long as the original work is given appropriate credit. Contents may not be used for commercial purposes, or adapted, remixed, transformed or built upon. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)

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