Sagittalen

Sagittalen, or the sagittal plane, is a vertical anatomical plane that divides the body or an organ into left and right portions. It runs from the front to the back and is perpendicular to the coronal plane. Any sagittal plane is parallel to the midline of the body, but only the midsagittal (median) plane passes exactly through the midline, producing equal left and right halves. Planes parallel to it but offset from the midline are called parasagittal planes.

In clinical anatomy, sagittal sections or reconstructions are used to examine structures along the left–right axis. This includes the brain, spinal cord, pelvis, and limbs. Sagittal views in imaging modalities such as MRI and CT help assess bilateral anatomy and midline structures, as well as unilateral pathology and alignment.

Etymology traces sagittal to the Latin sagitta, meaning arrow, reflecting the plane’s longitudinal orientation along the body’s axis. The term is used in many languages; in Swedish, sagittalen is the equivalent term for the sagittal plane. In practice, sagittal planes are fundamental alongside other standard orientations, such as the coronal (frontal) and transverse (horizontal) planes, to describe the location and orientation of anatomical features.