1. The Language of Anatomy
GIDEON ROBERT UNIVERSITY
ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY
NSWANA CHING’AMBU
2. • Know
• Orientation & directional terms
• Body landmarks
• Body planes & sections
• Body cavities
• Abdominopelvic regions
• Abdominopelvic quadrants
Introduction
3. • Special terminology is used to prevent
misunderstanding
• Exact terms are used for:
• Position
• Direction
• Regions
• Structures
Introduction
4. • Anatomical position
• Standing erect
• Feet parallel
• Arms hanging at the sides
• Palms facing forward
• Anatomical position – body is erect with the feet parallel
and the arms hanging at the sides with the palms facing
forward
• It’s important to note throughout this course
• Most terminology refers to this position regardless of the position
the body happens to be in at the time
Introduction
10. • A section is a cut made along a plane
• Sagittal
• Cut made along the lengthwise or vertical plane of the body
dividing it into left and right parts
• Midsagittal (median) plane
• Right and left parts are of equal size
• Frontal (coronal) plane
• Cut made along a lengthwise (vertical) plane that divides the
body into anterior and posterior parts
• Transverse plane (cross section)
• Cut made along a horizontal plane dividing the body or organ into
superior and inferior parts
Body Planes & Sections
12. • There are two sets of internal body
cavities called the dorsal and ventral
body cavities.
• These cavities are closed to the outside
1. Dorsal Body Cavity
• Protects the fragile nervous system
organs
• Has two subdivisions; the cranial cavity,
in the skull, encases the brain and the
vertebral, or spinal, cavity, which runs
within the bony vertebral column,
encloses the delicate spinal cord
• The cranial and spinal cavities are
continuous with one another
Body Cavities
13. 2. Ventral Body Cavity
• The more anterior and larger of the closed
body cavities
• It has two major subdivisions, thoracic and
abdominopelvic cavities
• It houses internal organs collectively called
the viscera
• They are separated by diaphragm, a dome-
shaped muscle important in breathing
• The abdominopelvic cavity, as its name
suggests, has two parts not physically
separated by a muscular or membrane wall
• The inferior part, pelvic cavity, lies in the
bony pelvis
Body Cavities
15. • Because the abdominopelvic cavity is large and contains several
organs, it helps to divide it into smaller areas for study
• One division method used primarily by anatomists, uses two
transverse and two parasagittal planes. These planes, divide the
cavity into nine regions
1. Epigastric region - located superior to the umbilical region (epi = upon,
above; gastri = belly)
2. Hypochondriac regions (right and left) - flank the epigastric region
laterally (chondro = cartilage)
3. Umbilical region - the centermost region deep to and surrounding the
umbilicus (navel)
4. Lumbar regions (right and left) - lie lateral to the umbilical region
(lumbus = loin)
5. Hypogastric (pubic) region - located inferior to the umbilical region
(hypo = below)
6. Inguinal or iliac regions (right and left) - located lateral to the
hypogastric region (iliac = superior part of the hip bone)
Abdominopelvic Regions
17. • A simpler scheme to localize the
abdominopelvic cavity organs is to
imagine one transverse and one
median sagittal plane pass through
the umbilicus at right angles
• Four quadrants are formed
1. Right upper quadrant (RUQ)
2. Left upper quadrant (LUQ)
3. Right lower quadrant (RLQ)
4. Left lower quadrant (LLQ)
Abdominopelvic Quadrants