Morphometric Development of Medial Surface of Cerebrum in Fetal Cadavers.

Abstract

Aim: To investigate the morphometric and morphological development of the medial surface of the cerebrum in 40 fetal cadavers without external anomalies and pathologies between the gestational ages of 22 and 40 weeks.

Material and methods: In this study, we measured the height and width of the cerebral hemisphere, cingulate sulcus, marginal sulcus, sulcus of the corpus callosum, calcarine sulcus, parieto-occipital sulcus, and central sulcus in each hemisphere. We examined these measures between genders and sides and assessed how these parameters developed over the course of gestational age (measured in months). Additionally, we aimed to determine the age at which each sulcus started to be visible.

Results: The dimensions of the parameters showed a significant increase with gestational age. When comparing these parameters between the right and left hemispheres as well as genders, no statistically significant difference was found. Regarding the classification of the marginal sulcus, Type I accounted for 33% and Type II accounted for 32% of the cases. As for the classification of the parieto-occipital sulcus and calcarine sulcus, Type I was the most common with 47%, followed by Type II with 23%.

Conclusion: In our study, we believe that valuable parameters can be obtained to understand the morphometric development of sulcus structures in the medial surface of the cerebrum. The contribution of such studies to the knowledge of anatomy and neurosurgery will be significant. Knowledge of morphological differences in the cortex cerebri may also play a role in detecting certain neurological diseases (such as lissencephaly and Walker-Warburg syndrome) and explaining their neuropathology.