Hi, my name is Robert Briggs. I'm one of the neurosurgery residents at the University of Southern California, and I'm presenting on the topic of anatomy and white matter connections of the superior pulmonary iris. Before we begin, there are no disclosures. Our main goal with this study was to try to show the underlying structural connections of the superior frontal iris, in large part because we know that the SFD is involved in a diverse array of functions within the brain, and is involved in very complex neural networks, including complex motor tasks, working memory, resting state activity, and executive activity, sometimes called cognitive control. And so the structural underpinnings of these networks are not really well established, and so we wanted to take one part of these networks, the SFG, and just try to understand in better anatomic detail how this gyrus is linked to other parts of the brain. To do that, we used DSI-based fiber tractography, validated by gross anatomical detection. In order to do this, we took 10 random subjects from the Human Connectome Project, we took their imaging data, we analyzed it in a program called DSI-Studio to try to see what the typical tracts emanating from the SFG are, and from where they project. And so, after doing that, we were able to take that data and compare it to in vivo cadaver dissections that had been prepared using a specialized white matter technique so that we could see if our tractography lined up with our white matter dissections. And so, we actually found good concordance between the two methods. And in particular, we found four major fiber bundles that we were able to characterize. The first being the frontal azulene tract, which connects the superior frontal gyrus to the inferior frontal gyrus. Number two was the inferior frontal occipital fasciculus, which connects the superior frontal gyrus to primary visual areas in the cuneus and lingual gyrus, as well as the parietal lobule. The cingulum, which connects the aspects of the medial surface of the superior frontal gyrus to the precuneus and parietal frontal gyrus. And then a very large collosal fiber bundle that connects the superior frontal gyrus to its counterpart, its contralateral counterpart, in the right and left cerebral hemispheres. The collosal fiber bundle, in particular, extends from the frontal pole all the way back to the SMA. So, the white matter fiber bundles presented here, I think, begin to paint a picture of how the SFG, which is involved in complex cognitive tasks, how these neural networks are linked to other parts of the brain. And it's our hypothesis that the SFG helps mediate these tasks with other parts of the brain via frontal azulene tract, iPOP, cingulum, and the large collosal fiber bundle. And so our hope is to better characterize these neural networks in the future with future studies trying to define their underlying anatomy. But I think what's also important about this is that we're able to show how these tracts connect to the SFG or emanate from the SFG so we can better understand potentially how neurologic deficits occur when tumors are resected or tumors disrupt these fiber bundles. Thank you.

superior frontal gyrus

neural networks

fiber bundles

neurosurgery resident

working memory