Skip to main content
Key Specialties
Cardiology Diabetology Endocrinology Gastroenterology Geriatrics and Gerontology Gynecology and Obstetrics Hematology Infectious Disease Internal Medicine Nephrology Neurology Oncology Pediatrics Respiratory Medicine Rheumatology Surgery
Congress Coverage
2024 ACC Congress 2023 ESMO Congress 2023 EASD Congress 2023 ERS Congress 2023 ESC Congress 2023 EHA Congress 2023 ASCO Annual Meeting
Clinical Collections
Advances in Alzheimer’s

At a glance: The ONWARDS insulin icodec trials

A round-up of the ONWARDS phase 3 clinical trials evaluating the novel weekly insulin icodec in people with diabetes.
ADVANCED SEARCH
Log in
Top
Surgical and Radiologic Anatomy
Published in: Surgical and Radiologic Anatomy 4/2017

01-04-2017 | Original Article

Investigation of topographical anatomy of Broca’s area: an anatomic cadaveric study

Authors: Pınar Eser Ocak, Hasan Kocaelı

Published in: Surgical and Radiologic Anatomy | Issue 4/2017

Login to get access

Abstract

Purpose

The sulci constituting the structure of the pars triangularis and opercularis, considered as ‘Broca’s area’, present wide anatomical and morphological variations between different hemispheres. The boundaries are described differently from one another in various studies. The aim of this study was to explore the topographical anatomy, confirm the morphological asymmetry and highlight anatomical variations in Broca’s area.

Methods

This study was performed with 100 hemispheres to investigate the presence, continuity, patterns and connections of the sulcal structures that constitute the morphological asymmetry of Broca’s area.

Results

Considerable individual anatomical and morphological variations between the inferior frontal gyrus and related sulcal structures were detected. Rare bilateralism findings supported the morphological asymmetry. The inferior frontal sulcus was identified as a single segment in 54 % of the right and two separate segments in 52 % of the left hemispheres, which was the most common pattern. The diagonal sulcus was present in 48 % of the right and 54 % of the left hemispheres. It was most frequently connected to the ascending ramus on both sides. A ‘V’ shape was observed in 42.5 % of the right hemispheres and a ‘Y’ shape in 38.3 % of the left hemispheres, which was the most common shape of the pars triangularis. Moreover, the full results are specified in detail.

Conclusions

Knowledge of the anatomical variations in this region is indispensable for understanding the functional structure and performing safe surgery. However, most previously published studies have aimed to determine the anatomical asymmetry of the motor speech area without illuminating the topographical anatomy encountered during surgery.
Literature
1.
Albanese E, Merlo A, Albanese A, Gomez E (1989) Anterior speech region. Asymmetry and weight–surface correlation. Arch Neurol 46(3):307–310CrossRefPubMed
2.
Alexander MP, Naeser MA, Palumbo C (1990) Broca’s area aphasias: aphasia after lesions including the frontal operculum. Neurology 40:353–362CrossRefPubMed
3.
Amunts K, Schleicher A, Burgel U, Mohlberg H, Uylings HB, Zilles K (1999) Broca’s region revisited: cytoarchitecture and intersubject variability. J Comp Neurol 412:319–341CrossRefPubMed
4.
Ardila A, Bernal B, Rosselli M (2016) How localized are language brain areas? A review of Brodmann areas involvement in language. Arch Clin Neuropsychol 31:112–122CrossRefPubMed
5.
Ayberk G, Yaglı E, Comert A, Esmer AF, Canturk N, Tekdemir I, Dinc H (2012) Anatomic relationship between the anterior sylvian point and the pars triangularis. Clin Anat 25:429–436CrossRefPubMed
6.
Axer H, Klingner CM, Prescher A (2013) Fiber anatomy of dorsal and ventral language streams. Brain Lang 127:192–204CrossRefPubMed
7.
Benson DF, Ardila A (1996) Aphasia: a clinical perspective. Oxford University Press, New York, pp 127, 135, 168, 169
8.
Benzagmout M, Gatignol P, Duffau H (2007) Resection of World Health Organization Grade II gliomas involving Broca’s area: methodological and functional considerations. Neurosurgery 61(4):741–752CrossRefPubMed
9.
10.
Broca P (1861) Nouvelle observation aphémie produite par un lésion de la moité postérieure des deuxième et troisième circonvolutions frontales. Bulletins de la Société Anatomique 6:398–407
11.
Broca P (1861) Remarques sur le siége de la faculté du langage articulé, suivies d’une observatoin d’aphémie (Perte de la Parole). Bulletin de la Société Anatomique de Paris 6:330–357
12.
Dick AS, Bernal B, Tremblay P (2014) The language connectome: new pathways, new concepts. Neuroscientist 20:453–467CrossRefPubMed
13.
Duffau H, Moritz GS, Mandonnet E (2014) A re-examination of neural basis of language processing: proposal of a dynamic hodotopical model from data provided by brain stimulation mapping during picture naming. Brain Lang 131:1–10CrossRefPubMed
14.
Duvernoy H (2006) Atlas of morphology and functional anatomy of the brain. Springer, Berlin, pp 17–121
15.
Falzi G, Perrone P, Vignolo LA (1982) Right–left asymmetry in anterior speech region. Arch Neurol 39(4):239–240CrossRefPubMed
16.
Flinker A, Korzeniewska A, Shestyuk AY, Franaszczuk PJ, Dronkers NF, Knight RT, Crone NE (2015) Redefining the role of Broca’s area in speech. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 112(9):2871–2875CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral
17.
Foundas AL, Leonard CM, Heilman KM (1995) Morphologic cerebral asymmetries and handedness. The pars triangularis and planum temporale. Arch Neurol 52:501–508CrossRefPubMed
18.
Foundas AL, Leonard CM, Gilmore RL, Fennell EB, Heilman KM (1996) Pars triangularis asymmetry and language dominance. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 93:719–722CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral
19.
Foundas AL, Eure KF, Luevano LF, Weinberger DR (1998) MRI asymmetries of Broca’s area: the pars triangularis and pars opercularis. Brain Lang 64:282–296CrossRefPubMed
20.
Foundas AL, Bollich AM, Corey DM, Hurley M, Heilman KM (2001) Anomalous anatomy of speech–language areas in adults with persistent developmental stuttering. Neurology 57:207–215CrossRefPubMed
21.
Foundas AL, Weisberg A, Browning CA, Weinberger DR (2001) Morphology of the frontal operculum: a volumetric magnetic resonance imaging study of the pars triangularis. J Neuroimaging 11:153–159CrossRefPubMed
22.
Germann J, Robbins S, Halsband U, Petrides M (2005) Precentral sulcal complex of the human brain: morphology and statistical probability maps. J Comp Neurol 493:334–356CrossRefPubMed
23.
Gil RS, Gatignol P, Capelle L, Mitchell MC, Duffau H (2005) The role of dominant striatum in language: a study using intraoperative electrical stimulations. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry 76(7):940–946CrossRef
24.
Hagoort P (2006) On Broca, brain and binding. In: Grodzinsky Y, Amunts K (eds) Broca’s region. Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp 242–253CrossRef
25.
Harasty J, Double KL, Halliday GM, Kril JJ, McRitchie DA (1997) Language-associated cortical regions are proportionally larger in the female brain. Arch Neurol 54:171–176CrossRefPubMed
26.
Keller SS, Highley JR, Garcia-Finana M, Sluming V, Rezaie R, Roberts N (2007) Sulcal variability, stereological measurement and asymmetry of Broca’s area on MR images. J Anat 211:534–555PubMedPubMedCentral
27.
Keller SS, Crow T, Foundas A, Amunts K, Roberts N (2009) Broca’s area: nomenclature, anatomy, typology and asymmetry. Brain Lang 109:29–48CrossRefPubMed
28.
Knaus TA, Bollich AM, Corey DM, Lemen LC, Foundas AL (2006) Variability in perisylvian brain anatomy in healthy adults. Brain Lang 97:219–232CrossRefPubMed
29.
Knaus TA, Corey DM, Bollich AM, Lemen LC, Foundas AL (2007) Anatomical asymmetries of anterior perisylvian speech–language regions. Cortex 43:499–510CrossRefPubMed
30.
Kononova EP (1949) The frontal region. Architectonics of the cerebral cortex. Medgiz, Moscow, pp 309–343
31.
Lemaire JJ, Golby A, Wells WM III, Pujol S, Tie Y, Rigolo L, Yarmarkovich A, Pieper S, Westin CF, Jolesz F, Kikinis R (2013) Extended Broca’s area in the functional connectome of language in adults: combined cortical and subcortical single-subject analysis using fMRI and DTI tractography. Brain Topogr 26:428–441CrossRefPubMed
32.
Luders E, Narr KL, Thompson PM, Rex DE, Jancke L, Toga AW (2006) Hemispheric asymmetries in cortical thickness. Cereb Cortex 16:1232–1238CrossRefPubMed
33.
Nikkuni S, Yashima Y, Ishige K, Suzuki S, Ohno E, Kumashiro H (1981) Left–right hemispheric asymmetry of cortical speech zones in Japanese brains. No to Shinkei 33(1):77–84PubMed
34.
Ono M, Kubik S, Abernathey CD (1990) Atlas of the cerebral sulci. Thieme, New York
35.
Petrides M, Pandya DN (2004) The frontal cortex. The human nervous system. Elsevier Academic Press, San Diego, pp 950–972CrossRef
36.
Plaza M, Gatignol P, Leroy M, Duffau H (2009) Speaking without Broca’s area after tumor resection. Neurocase 15(4):294–310CrossRefPubMed
37.
38.
Tate MC, Herbet G, Moritz GS, Tate JE, Duffau H (2014) Probabilistic map of critical functional regions of the human cerebral cortex: Broca’s area revisited. Brain 137:2773–2782CrossRefPubMed
39.
Tomaiuolo F, MacDonald JD, Caramanos Z (1999) Morphology, morphometry and probability mapping of the pars opercularis of the inferior frontal gyrus: an in vivo MRI analysis. Eur J Neurosci 11:3033–3046CrossRefPubMed
40.
Wada JA, Clarke R, Hamm A (1975) Cerebral hemispheric asymmetry in humans. Cortical speech zones in 100 adults and 100 infant brains. Arch Neurol 32:239–246CrossRefPubMed
41.
Watkins KE, Paus T, Lerch JP, Zijdenbos A, Collins DL, Neelin P, Taylor J, Worsley KJ, Evans AC (2001) Structural asymmetries in the human brain: a voxel-based statistical analysis of 142 MRI scans. Cereb Cortex 11:868–877CrossRefPubMed
Metadata
Title
Investigation of topographical anatomy of Broca’s area: an anatomic cadaveric study
Authors
Pınar Eser Ocak
Hasan Kocaelı
Publication date
01-04-2017
Publisher
Springer Paris
Published in
Surgical and Radiologic Anatomy / Issue 4/2017
Print ISSN: 0930-1038
Electronic ISSN: 1279-8517
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s00276-016-1748-0

Other articles of this Issue 4/2017

Surgical and Radiologic Anatomy 4/2017 Go to the issue

Original Article

Volumetric study of sphenoid sinuses: anatomical analysis in helical computed tomography

Original Article

Quantitative analysis of the right auricle with 256-slice computed tomography

Original Article

Contribution to the anatomical nomenclature concerning upper limb anatomy

Anatomic Variations

A case of a duplicated superficial branch of radial nerve and a two-bellied brachioradialis muscle presenting a potential entrapment syndrome

Letter to the Editor

The cut surface of the neck as depicted in two paintings of Judith and Holofernes

Original Article

Micro-CT study of the dehiscences of the tympanic segment of the facial canal