decorticate posture /dēkôr″tikāt/ [L, de + cortex, bark, ponere, to place] , the position of a comatose patient in which the upper extremities are rigidly flexed at the elbows and at the wrists. The legs also may be flexed. The decorticate posture indicates a lesion in a mesencephalic region of the brain. In some instances the posture may be produced by applying a painful stimulus to a comatose patient. Also called decorticate rigidity.
