Department of Neurosurgery, Medical University of Graz, Graz, Austria -
Center for Information Technology, Fondazione Bruno Kessler (FBK), Trento, Italy.
J Neurosurg Sci. 2021 Dec;65(6):581-589. doi: 10.23736/S0390-5616.21.05368-6.
Association fibers of the human brain have long been considered to exclusively follow an anterior-posterior direction. Using magnetic resonance imaging techniques that allow in-vivo fiber dissection, vertically oriented association fibers have been rediscovered or newly described. Aside from the frontal aslant tract (FAT) in the frontal lobe, the vertical occipital fascicle (VOF) and the vertical portion of the superior longitudinal fascicle system (vSLF) have been studied in recent years. The aim of this review was to give an overview on the current knowledge regarding these two fiber tracts. A review of the available literature in the Medline database was conducted to gather all available publications dealing with either the VOF or the vSLF. One thousand two hundred seventy-three articles were obtained from the literature search of which a total of 71 articles met the final inclusion criteria of this review. We describe the history of the discovery of the respective fiber tract, its anatomical course and its boundaries integrating blunt fiber dissection studies and functional MRI/tractography studies. We discuss the functional properties of the respective fiber tract and its relevance in neurosurgery. The VOF is a fiber tract that has been discovered in the late XIX century and long been forgotten before being rediscovered in the 1970's. It lies lateral to the fibers of the sagittal stratum and mainly connects the superior and inferior occipital lobe. It plays a major role in reading and visual word and language comprehension and is said to be the main link between dorsal and ventral visual streams. The vSLF has many synonyms and is part of the superior longitudinal fascicle system. Recent studies were able to provide more insight into this set of fiber tracts showing distinct connections running from the superior and inferior parietal lobule to the posterior part of the temporal lobe. Its functional role is still not completely cleared. It is said to play a role in visual and auditory semantic language comprehension. It lies directly lateral to the arcuate fascicle. The VOF and the vSLF are vertically oriented fiber tracts connecting the temporo-parieto-occipital region and play a major role in the communication of dorsal and ventral visual streams (VOF), reading (VOF, vSLF) and visual and auditory semantic language comprehension (vSLF). They can consistently be identified using ex vivo blunt dissection techniques and in-vivo fiber tractography. Because of their localization and orientation these two fiber tracts can be combined to a fiber bundle system called posterior transverse system (PTS).
人脑的联络纤维一直被认为只遵循前后方向。使用允许体内纤维分离的磁共振成像技术，重新发现或新描述了垂直定向的联络纤维。除了额叶中的额斜束（FAT）外，近年来还研究了垂直枕束（VOF）和上纵束系统的垂直部分（vSLF）。本综述的目的是概述这两条纤维束的当前知识。对 Medline 数据库中的现有文献进行了综述，以收集所有涉及 VOF 或 vSLF 的可用出版物。从文献搜索中获得了 1273 篇文章，其中共有 71 篇文章符合本综述的最终纳入标准。我们描述了各自纤维束的发现历史、其解剖路径及其边界，整合了钝性纤维分离研究和功能 MRI/束追踪研究。我们讨论了各自纤维束的功能特性及其在神经外科中的重要性。VOF 是一条在 19 世纪后期发现的纤维束，在 20 世纪 70 年代重新发现之前，它早已被遗忘。它位于矢状层纤维的外侧，主要连接上、下枕叶。它在阅读和视觉单词和语言理解中起着重要作用，被认为是背侧和腹侧视觉流之间的主要联系。vSLF 有许多同义词，是上纵束系统的一部分。最近的研究能够提供更多关于这组纤维束的深入了解，显示出从顶下小叶和顶下小叶到颞叶后部的明显连接。其功能作用尚不完全清楚。它被认为在视觉和听觉语义语言理解中发挥作用。它直接位于弓状束的外侧。VOF 和 vSLF 是垂直定向的纤维束，连接颞顶枕区，在背侧和腹侧视觉流的交流（VOF）、阅读（VOF、vSLF）以及视觉和听觉语义语言理解（vSLF）中起着主要作用。它们可以使用离体钝性分离技术和体内纤维束追踪技术一致地识别。由于它们的位置和方向，这两条纤维束可以组合成一个纤维束系统，称为后横向系统（PTS）。
