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Topic

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Lingual gyrus

The lingual gyrus is a prominent structure of the occipital lobe located on the medial aspect of the cerebral hemisphere. Despite its name, it has no direct relation to the tongue but is so named due to its tongue-like shape. This gyrus plays a crucial role in visual processing, particularly related to letters, complex images, and encoding visual memories. It also has important clinical and radiological significance due to its vascular supply and characteristic imaging appearances.

Synonyms

  • Medial occipitotemporal gyrus

Anatomical Location

  • Situated in the occipital lobe, inferior to the calcarine sulcus, and superior to the collateral sulcus.

  • Extends from the posterior end of the corpus callosum to the occipital pole.

Arterial Supply

  • Primarily supplied by branches of the posterior cerebral artery (PCA), specifically:

    • Calcarine artery (a branch of PCA)

    • Posterior temporal branches of the PCA

Venous Drainage

  • Drains mainly via the inferior sagittal sinus and straight sinus.

  • Additional drainage may occur through deep cerebral veins into the vein of Galen.

Function

  • Involved in high-level visual processing:

    • Recognition of letters and words (visual word form area)

    • Visual memory encoding

    • Analysis of logical visual patterns and complex scenes

    • Has roles in dreaming and visual hallucinations

    • Some involvement in processing of color vision

MRI Appearance

  • T1-weighted MRI:

    • Appears as isointense to slightly hypointense relative to surrounding cortical gray matter.

    • Gyrus boundaries are best seen with anatomical landmarks.

  • T2-weighted MRI:

    • Appears as hyperintense (bright) relative to white matter.

    • Clearly delineated from adjacent gyri and sulci.

  • FLAIR MRI:

    • Similar to T2, the lingual gyrus remains hyperintense compared to white matter, with CSF suppression providing better gray–white differentiation.

    • Useful for identifying lesions, demyelination, or edema in the lingual gyrus region.

CT Appearance

  • Appears isodense to other cortical gray matter on non-contrast CT.

  • Borders are typically indistinct unless there is a pathological process (e.g., infarct, hemorrhage, or mass effect).

  • Acute ischemia may manifest as loss of gray-white differentiation or subtle hypodensity.

MRI images

Lingual gyrus mri 3t axial image

MRI images

Lingual gyrus mri 3t sagittal image

CT image

Lingual gyrus CT sag anatomy image -img-00001-00001