Body Planes, Directions,

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Body Planes, Directions, Cavities

• Med Terms Principles of Health Science
• BECKY JACKSON, R.N.

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Purpose of Body Planes Directions

• To document info about pts., terms have to be
  used that specify regions or directions of the
  body
• Ex to identify locations of pain or injury,
  write 1 cm. laceration on the right anterior
  forearm, distal to the elbow.

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• These locations are based on anatomical
  position of the body-the position with the body
  upright with arms at the sides and the palms
  forward.

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Body Planes

• Imaginary lines drawn through the body to
  separate the body into sections
• Transverse
• Median or sagittal
• Frontal or coronal

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Transverse plane

• Horizontal plane that divides the body into a top
  bottom half
• Superiorbody parts above other parts
• Inferiorbody parts below other parts
• ExKnee is superior to ankle but inferior to hip

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Midsagittal or median plane

• Divides the body into left and right sides
• Medial-body parts close to midline or middle
• Lateralbody parts away from the midline or middle

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Frontal (or coronal) plane

• Divides the body into a front and back section

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Cranial (cephalic) vs caudal

• Cranial towards the head
• Caudal towards the tail

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Medial vs lateral

• Medial close or towards the midline
• Lateral away from the midline

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Superior vs inferior

• Superior towards the top
• Inferior towards the bottom

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Anterior vs posterior

• Anterior or Ventral towards the front of the
  body
• Posterior or Dorsal towards the back of the body

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Anterior/Ventral Posterior/Dorsal
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Proximal vs distal

• Used to describe the location of the extremeties
  in relation to the main trunk of the body or the
  point of reference.
• Body parts close to point of reference-proximal
• Body parts away from point of reference-distal

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Proximal Distal

• Example With the shoulder as the point of
  reference, the wrist is distal (further away)
  elbow is proximal (closer) to shoulder.

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Directions

• Superior vs inferior
• Cranial vs caudal
• Medial vs lateral
• Anterior vs posterior
• Dorsal vs ventral
• Proximal vs distal

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Body Cavities-Spaces that contain vital organs

• Dorsal cavity (posterior)
• Cranial cavity (head)
• Spinal cavity (spine)
• Ventral cavity (anterior)
• Thoracic cavity (chest)
• Abdomino-pelvic cavity
• Abdominal cavity
• Pelvic cavity

• Orbital cavity (eyes)
• Nasal cavity (nose)
• Buccal cavity (mouth)

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Dorsal cavity

• One long continuous cavity-smaller than anterior
  cavities
• Cranial cavity(cephalic) contains the brain
• Spinal cavity contains the spinal cord

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Ventral or Anterior cavity-larger than dorsal
cavities

• Thoracic cavity contains esophagus, trachea,
  bronchi, lungs, heart, lg. blood vessels
• Abdomino-pelvic cavity
• Upper Abdominal cavity stomach, large intestine
  (colon), small intestine, liver, gallbladder,
  pancreas, spleen
• Lower abdominal-pelvic cavity urinary bladder,
  reproductive organs, last part of large intestine
• Diaphragm muscle that separates the thoracic
  cavity from the abdomino-pelvic

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THORACIC CAVITY

• Heart, lungs
• bronchial tubes,
• trachea, esophagus

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THORACIC CAVITY
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DIAPHRAGM

• The diaphragm is a muscle separating the
  abdominal and thoracic cavities.

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ABDOMINAL CAVITY

• Contains stomach, small
• and large intestine, spleen,
• Pancreas, liver, gallbladder

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ABDOMINAL PELVIC CAVITY

• Portions of small
• intestine, rectum, urinary
• bladder, reproductive
• organs

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Abdominal quadrants (4)

• Four quadrants with the umbilicus at the center
• RUQ-right upper
• LUQ-left upper
• RLQ-right lower
• LLQ-left lower

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ABDOMINAL REGIONS-(9)
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Abdominal Regions (9)

• Right hypochondriac region-below ribs (right)
• Left hypochondriac region-below ribs (left)
• Epigastric region-Above stomach area
• Umbilical region-belly button
• Right lumbar region-near the waist area
• Left lumbar region-near the waist area
• Right inguinal (iliac) region-groin
• Left inguinal (iliac) region-groin
• Hypogastric region-below stomach area

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3 Small Cavities

• Orbital-eyes
• Nasal-nose structures
• Buccal-mouth

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• If an injury were described as a posterior
  cranial laceration, where would the injury be?
• If an injury occurred in the LUQ, where would
  this be?

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STAB WOUND

• What is the location of this stab wound?

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STAB WOUND
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APPENDECTOMY SCAR

• How would you describe the location of this scar?

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GB SCAR

• How would you describe the location of this scar?

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Image Citations

• Slide 3 8/27/06, http//academic.kellogg.cc.mi.us
  /herbrandsonc/bio201_McKinley/chapter1.htm
• Slide 4 Sagittal plane, 8/27/06,
  http//www.tech.nite.go.jp/human/eng/contents/cind
  ex/referencedevelop.html
• Slide 5 Frontal plane, 8/27/06,
  http//www.tech.nite.go.jp/human/eng/contents/cind
  ex/referencedevelop.html
• Slide 7 9 12 Directional terms, 8/27/06,
  http//www.lrn.org/Graphics/figure1.7.gif
• Slide 8 Anatomical terms, planes, 8/27/06,
  http//trc.ucdavis.edu/mjguinan/apc100/modules/ter
  mscellstissues/introduction/planes/planes.html

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Image Citations

• Slide 11 photo of a dog illustrating dorsal,
  ventral, anterior and posterior, 8/27/06,
  http//anthro.palomar.edu/animal/glossary.htmbila
  teral_symmetry
• Slide 14 Body cavities, 8/31/06,
  http//www.templejc.edu/dept/biology/RHicks/biol24
  04Int/biol2404onl_LAB.htm
• Slide 16, 17 Delmar Learnings Medical
  Terminology Image Library, Second Edition,
  Version 1.0, 2003.