Major Planes^[1]

Medical imaging devices enable clinicians to see “virtual sections” of living bodies, called scans. Scans can be correctly interpreted only if the viewer understands the plane along which the image was made. A plane is an imaginary two-dimensional surface that passes through the body. There are three planes commonly referred to in anatomy, including the following1:

• The sagittal plane is the plane that divides the body or an organ vertically into right and left sides.
  • If this vertical plane runs directly down the middle of the body, it is called a midsagittal plane or median plane.
  • If the vertical plane divides the body into unequal right and left sides, it is called a parasagittal plane, or less commonly a longitudinal section.
• The frontal plane divides the body or an organ into an anterior (front) and a posterior (rear) portion. The frontal plane is often referred to as a coronal plane.
• The transverse plane divides the body or an organ horizontally into upper and lower portions. Transverse planes produce images referred to as cross sections.
• The oblique plane divides the body at an angle between the horizontal and vertical planes.

See Figure 1.7^[2] for an illustration of the sagittal, frontal (coronal), and transverse planes.