Reference planes

Plana referentiae

Definition

Muhammad A. Javaid

There are three types of reference planes used to describe the location of body parts or the location of various pathological lesions on the body. These reference planes are situated along the three axes in space and include the coronal, sagittal and horizontal planes.

  • Coronal reference plane refers to a vertically-oriented, side-to-side plane which, when passes through the body in its anatomical position, divides it into anterior and posterior parts.

  • Sagittal reference plane refers to a vertically-oriented, antero-posterior plane which, when passes through the body in its anatomical position, divides it into right and left parts.

  • Horizontal (a.k.a. transverse or axial) reference plane divides the body or any of its parts into upper and lower parts.

Both coronal and sagittal reference planes lie at right angles to each other and perpendicularly intersect the transverse (or horizontal) plane.

References

Text written by Muhammad A. Javaid, MD, PhD © 2023 IMAIOS.

  • Drake, R.L., Vogl, A.W. and Mitchell, A.W.M. (2009). ‘Chapter 1: The Body’ in Gray’s anatomy for Students. (2nd ed.) Philadelphia PA 19103-2899: Elsevier, pp. 6.

  • SEER Training Modules, Intro to the Human Body, Anatomical Terminology. U. S. National Institutes of Health, National Cancer Institute. February 2nd, 2023 < https://training.seer.cancer.gov/anatomy/body/terminology.html>