Ventromedial temporal lobe anatomy, with comments on Alzheimer's disease and temporal injury

The ventromedial temporal area has a complicated topography and neuroanatomy that has yielded secrets only grudgingly. The major features of surface topography are reviewed here as well as recent neuroanatomical findings that establish the ventromedial temporal area as both a recipient of cortical input and the origin for widespread output back to the cortex. The devastating involvement of all ventromedial temporal areas in Alzheimer's disease is highlighted, and comments are offered on the tentorium cerebelli and on mechanical injury to the area.