[Asymmetries of human cerebral cortex assessed in vivo by stereotaxic-stereoscopic angiography. Anatomo-functional correlations]

Abstract

Morphological brain asymmetries of the planum temporale, Sylvian fissure and insula were assessed by stereotactic-stereoscopic angiography in 70 epileptic patients without neuroradiological abnormalities, at angiography and CT in these regions. Fifty four patients were right-handers and 16 not right-handers. In 57 patients hemispheric speech dominance was evaluated by the Wada test and electroclinical correlations: in 8 patients, 4 men and 4 women, speech was located in right hemisphere or bilaterally. Lateral asymmetry was present in the regions examined. Correlations between the morphological measurements were not identical in the left and the right hemisphere. No significant relationship was found between anatomical asymmetries and handedness. In men, but not in women, significant differences were observed between the right-bilateral speech group (4 subjects) and the left speech group (31 subjects): right hemisphere regions, including the insula, were larger in the former than in the later whereas, left hemisphere regions were identical in both groups.