Department of Neurosurgery , University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California, USA.
Centre for Minimally Invasive Neurosurgery, Prince of Wales Private Hospital, Sydney, Australia.
Oper Neurosurg (Hagerstown). 2021 Jun 15;21(1):E8-E14. doi: 10.1093/ons/opab109.
The middle temporal gyrus (MTG) is understood to play a role in language-related tasks such as lexical comprehension and semantic cognition. However, a more specific understanding of its key white matter connections could promote the preservation of these functions during neurosurgery.
To provide a detailed description of the underlying white matter tracts associated with the MTG to improve semantic preservation during neurosurgery.
Tractography was performed using diffusion imaging obtained from 10 healthy adults from the Human Connectome Project. All tracts were mapped between cerebral hemispheres with a subsequent laterality index calculated based on resultant tract volumes. Ten postmortem dissections were performed for ex vivo validation of the tractography based on qualitative visual agreement.
We identified 2 major white matter bundles leaving the MTG: the inferior longitudinal fasciculus and superior longitudinal fasciculus. In addition to long association fibers, a unique linear sequence of U-shaped fibers was identified, possibly representing a form of visual semantic transfer down the temporal lobe.
We elucidate the underlying fiber-bundle anatomy of the MTG, an area highly involved in the brain's language network. Improved understanding of the unique, underlying white matter connections in and around this area may augment our overall understanding of language processing as well as the involvement of higher order cerebral networks like the default mode network in these functions.
中颞回（MTG）被认为在语言相关任务中发挥作用，如词汇理解和语义认知。然而，更具体地了解其关键的白质连接可以促进神经外科手术期间这些功能的保留。
详细描述与 MTG 相关的白质束，以提高神经外科手术期间的语义保留。
使用来自人类连接组计划的 10 名健康成年人的弥散成像进行束追踪。所有束均在大脑半球之间进行映射，并根据所得束体积计算随后的侧性指数。进行了 10 次尸体解剖，以基于定性视觉一致性对基于束追踪的进行体外验证。
我们确定了离开 MTG 的 2 个主要白质束：下纵束和上纵束。除了长的联合纤维外，还确定了独特的 U 形纤维线性序列，可能代表沿着颞叶的视觉语义转移形式。
我们阐明了 MTG 的基础纤维束解剖结构，该区域高度参与大脑的语言网络。更好地理解该区域内和周围独特的基础白质连接可能会增强我们对语言处理的整体理解，以及默认模式网络等更高阶大脑网络在这些功能中的参与。
