The fork sign: a new cortical landmark in the human brain

Abstract

Abstract In the cerebral cortex, establishing the precise relationship between functional areas and the macroscopic anatomy of gyri and sulci has a paramount importance for the field of neuroimaging and neurosurgical interventions. The anatomical orientation should start with the identification of anatomical landmarks to set the anatomo-functional boundaries. The human central sulcus region stands out as a well-defined structural and functional unit housing the primary motor and sensory cortices and is considered as key region to be identified during brain surgery. While useful anatomical landmarks have been discovered, especially in the axial plane, the identification of this region in the sagittal plane remains sometimes difficult. Using cadaveric whole brains and multimodal analysis of MRI brain scans, we systematically observed a tuning fork shaped sulco-gyral configuration centered around the gyral continuum bridging the precentral gyrus with the middle frontal gyrus. We provide evidence that this “Fork sign” is a consistent morphological feature visible on the lateral surface of the brain and a reliable radioanatomical landmark for identifying central sulcus region structures on sagittal MRI images, including the motor hand area.