Basic Planes In Cross-Sectional Anatomy

The human body may be sectioned in one of three planes relative to a three main coordinates system (X-Y-Z). The transverse (or axial) section form a series of slices that run from top (superior) to bottom (inferior) dividing the body in superior and inferior parts. When I go to the International Hose of Pancakes IHOP for short, I am always thinking in an axial plane.

Coronal sections follow a front to back fashion splitting the body in an anterior and posterior portions while a sagittal section divides the body into left or right. There is a median plane that divides the body in two equal halves, every plane parallel to it will be consider a parasagittal plane.



Blue= Coronal Plane
Yellow=Axial Plane
Fushia= Sagittal Plane