Relationship between the coronal suture and the central lobe: how important is it and how can we use it in surgical planning?

The surgical treatment of the lesions located in the central lobe is a very difficult task for the neurosurgeon. The overall aim of this study is to verify the correlation of the coronal suture and the structures of the central lobe in 32 cadaver hemisphere brains and the importance of this information in surgical planning. The measurement of the nasion to the coronal suture ranged from 11.5 to 13.5 cm. The distance between the coronal suture in the midline to the central, precentral and paracentral sulcus ranged from 5.0 to 6.6, 2.5 to 4.5 and 1.3 to 4.0 cm respectively. Particularly in the normal cortex these measurements can be used to guide the surgical access. However, the identification of the central sulcus is not easy when the anatomical pattern is distorted or displaced by a lesion or edema. In cases such as these the use of other tools becomes crucial for good surgical planning and cortical mapping or awake craniotomy for a safer resection of the lesion as well.

Strategies for resection of lesions in the motor area: preliminary results in 42 surgical patients.

In recent years considerable technological advances have been made with the purpose of improving the surgical results in the treatment of eloquent lesions. The overall aim of this study is to evaluate the postoperative surgical outcome in 42 patients who underwent surgery to remove lesions around the motor cortex, in which preoperative planning by using neuroimaging exams, anatomical study, appropriate microsurgery technique and auxiliary methods such as cortical stimulation were performed. Twenty-two patients (52.3%) presented a normal motor function in the preoperative period. Of these, six developed transitory deficit. Twenty patients (47.6%) had a motor deficit preoperatively, nevertheless 90% of these improved postoperatively. Surgery in the motor area becomes safer and more effective with preoperative localization exams, anatomical knowledge and appropriate microsurgery technique. Cortical stimulation is important because it made possible to maximize the resection reducing the risk of a motor deficit. Stereotaxy method was useful in the location of subcortical lesions.