Variation of perisylvian and calcarine anatomic landmarks within stereotaxic proportional coordinates.

This investigation describes the variability in location of functionally important persylvian landmarks and of the calcarine sulcus within the Talairach stereotaxic grid, a system frequently used for cortical localization in functional images. Twenty healthy volunteers (40 hemispheres) had MR imaging under stereotaxic conditions. Outlines of the following structures were directly identified on sagittal 5-mm MR sections and marked on individual proportional grid overlays: inferior central sulcus, inferior precentral sulcus, inferior postcentral sulcus, anterior ascending ramus and posterior rami of the sylvian fissure, superior temporal sulcus, and calcarine sulcus. Maximal variation zones for these landmarks were defined by superimposition of the standardized individual data on a standard stereotaxic grid. The sulcal variation zones measured 1.5-2.0 cm. The findings indicate that macroanatomic individuality in the cerebral surface cannot be accounted for adequately by proportional coordinates, and that this method does not allow precise definition of anatomically based regions of interest for functional imaging. Instead, MR mapping of the individual sulcus pattern should be used to generate brain templates.