Gross Anatomy of the Human Insula

When the lips of the lateral fissure are separated from each other, a new group of sulci and gyri appear. They are arrayed together in the form of an island, which is the reason why the German anatomist, Johann Christian Reil, named them “the insular lobe”. Bordered by the limiting sulci, its general form resembles that of an oblique pyramid with a triangular base and low height. Although some anatomical variation exists, the insula presents a systematizable internal organization and well-defined anatomical relationships with deep and superficial cerebral structures, such as the extreme capsule and the cerebral opercula. In this chapter we review concepts of the insular morphology that are important to the fields of neurosurgery and neuroimaging.