Intraoperative mapping of pre-central motor cortex and subcortex: a proposal for supplemental cortical and novel subcortical maps to Penfield’s motor homunculus

Penfield’s motor homunculus describes a caricaturised yet useful representation of the map of various body parts on the pre-central cortex. We propose a supplemental map of the clinically represented areas of human body in pre-central cortex and a novel subcortical corticospinal tract map. We believe this knowledge is essential for safe surgery in patients with eloquent brain lesions. A single-institution retrospective cohort study of patients who underwent craniotomy for motor eloquent lesions with intraoperative motor neuromonitoring (cortical and subcortical) between 2015 and 2020 was performed. All positive cortical and subcortical stimulation points were taken into account and cartographic maps were produced to demonstrate cortical and subcortical areas of motor representation and their configuration. A literature review in PubMed was performed. One hundred and eighty consecutive patients (58.4% male, 41.6% female) were included in the study with 81.6% asleep and 18.4% awake craniotomies for motor eloquent lesions (gliomas 80.7%, metastases 13.8%) with intraoperative cortical and subcortical motor mapping. Based on the data, we propose a supplemental clinical cortical and a novel subcortical motor map to the original Penfield’s motor homunculus, including demonstration of localisation of intercostal muscles both in the cortex and subcortex which has not been previously described. The supplementary clinical cortical and novel subcortical motor maps of the homunculus presented here have been derived from a large cohort of patients undergoing direct cortical and subcortical brain mapping. The information will have direct relevance for improving the safety and outcome of patients undergoing resection of motor eloquent brain lesions. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s00429-021-02274-z.