Article · Wikipedia archive · Last revised Jun 19, 2026

Median plane

Whether in reference to the anatomy of the human or other members of the Bilateria, the median plane, also called the midsagittal plane and related terms, is used to describe the sagittal plane as it bisects the body vertically through the midline marked by the navel, dividing the body exactly in left and right side. The term parasagittal plane is used to refer to any plane parallel to the sagittal and median plane.

Last revised
Jun 19, 2026
Read time
≈ 1 min
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206 w
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Source
Median plane
Human anatomy planes, with median plane in red.
Surface lines of the front of the thorax and abdomen.
Details
Identifiers
Latinplanum medianum
FMA49450
Anatomical terminology

Whether in reference to the anatomy of the human or other members of the Bilateria, the median plane, also called the midsagittal plane and related terms, is used to describe the sagittal plane as it bisects the body vertically through the midline marked by the navel, dividing the body exactly in left and right side. The term parasagittal plane is used to refer to any plane parallel to the sagittal and median plane.123

It is one of the lines used to define the right upper quadrant of the human abdomen.

The midsternal line can be interpreted as a segment of the median plane.

References

References

  1. Butler, Robert A.; Belendiuk, Krystyna (1977-05-01). "Spectral cues utilized in the localization of sound in the median sagittal plane". The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America. 61 (5): 1264–1269. doi:10.1121/1.381427. ISSN 0001-4966.
  2. Sisson, Septimus (1911). A Textbook of Veterinary Anatomy. p. 18.
  3. Johnston, T.B. (1959). Grayʼs Anatomy: descriptive and applied. p. xxii.