Point 1 Intro Pathway Deficits Clinical Note Summary Overview Problems Contents  Anatomy

In my humble opinion, the corticospinal tract is the most important pathway in clinical neurology. In other words, if you forget any neuroanatomy, DO NOT forget the following points: the pathway is crossed. lesions anywhere rostral to the decussation (cortex, internal capsule, cerebral peduncle, basilar pons, rostral two-thirds of pyramid) result in contralateral deficits. lesions involving this system in the spinal cord (i.e., the lateral corticospinal tract) result in ipsilateral deficits below the level of the lesion. corticospinal neurons are upper motor neurons; and therefore their death does NOT result in muscle atrophy.