okay let's do an introduction to anatomy and answer the what questions what is the anatomical position what are the directional terms used in anatomy and what are the anatomical planes and sections hello everyone my name is dr. Morton and I am the noted anatomist okay let's get started and start with a question how would you describe the location of the yellow circle you probably say hey that's on the front of the hand now how would you describe the location of the yellow circle some may say oh it's on the inside of the hand another may say uh-uh it's on the front of the hand but it's facing in someone else can say can we just say it's still on the front of the hand now how would you describe the location of the yellow circle some would say oh it's on the outside of the hand or no that is on the back of the hand but the person's facing to the right wait who's right my right or her right and how would you describe the location of the yellow circle now so I always say oh it's on the front of the hand no that's the back of the hand but it's facing forward hold on are you saying she's facing away from us and the circle is facing towards us now can you see the conundrum early anatomist face when trying to describe direction and position in the human body the description of direction and position changed each time the position of the body changed so what's the solution to this problem well one standard position and we call it done on the anatomical position now the anatomical position consists of the following the patient's facing forward the arms are down at the side the palms of the hand are facing forward with the thumbs pointing to the side and it's always from the viewpoint of the patient or the cadaver or the image or the figure so this the anatomical position becomes an initial point of reference to accurately describe location and direction in other words it doesn't matter if the patient's looking at you or away from you or to the side the location of the yellow circle is always described with regards to this anatomical position and so for example in these two pictures we would say oh the yellow Circle it's on the front of the hand regardless as if they're in the anatomical position or the hand is in a different position or in this case we would say oh the yellow circle it's on the back of the hand regardless of the position of the patient and so to reiterate it doesn't matter if the patient's looking at you were away from you the location of the yellow circle is always described with regards to this anatomical position okay so now after anatomist got the anatomical position thing figured out they tackled the next problem which is how can we be more specific in our directional and descriptive terms so that's where we now come up with these anatomical terms of position this list of terms help to accurately describe where one anatomical structure is in relation to another and these are the most common ones used in anatomy and in the healthcare system alright so let's do each of them individually let's start with anterior and in gross anatomy another term is ventral which means towards the front for example anterior the sternum is anterior to the vertebral column or the sternum is ventral to the vertebral column in contrast there's posterior or dorsal which means towards the back for example posterior the vertebral column is posterior to the sternum or the vertebral column is dorsal to the sternum now this again to reiterate is always in relation to the anatomical position okay so next superior which means towards the top for example superior the nose is superior to the mouth and then there's in contrast inferior which means towards the bottom for example inferior the mouth is inferior to the nose next cranial or cephalic means towards the top serves cranial for example the skull is cranial - the neck then there's caudal which means towards the bottom as in caudal the neck is caudal to the skull some of you may be saying but wait a second didn't we just cover caudal is not the same thing as inferior and cranial isn't the same thing as superior the two terms cranial or cephalic cephalic meaning head or towards the head and cranial towards the head and caudal towards the tail are primarily used with regards to the skull and vertebral column or brain and spinal cord you're going to see those terms used okay so now medial which means towards the midline for example medial the nose is medial to the ears and then there's lateral as in towards the side for example lateral the ears are lateral to the nose and then there is some practice ones for example oh now practice one we're getting to that in a second part of me now let's take a little bit of a tangent and take a look at this Orange and we take this orange apart so we look at some of these other directional terms we may say okay how would you describe the location of the orange peel in relation to the pulp we might say oh the orange peel is anterior to the pulp no wait actually the peel is posterior to the pulp no no wait its lateral to the pulp no wait it's the orange peel is inferior to the pulp so aren't they all correct and that's why when describing structures that have depth and layers the term superficial and deep are used so how would you describe the location the orange peel in relation to the pulp you'd say oh the peel is superficial to the pulp and then how would you describe the location of the pulp in relation to the peel we would say all the pulp is deep to the peel and it doesn't matter where we're talking about the pulp it's always deep to the peel all right so let's take a look at these superficial external terms with regards to anatomy it's always mean superficial or external means situated on the surface so for example superficial the skin is superficial to the bone so it doesn't matter if you're talking about this part of the skin or this part of the skin it's always superficial to the bones now what about deep and internal which means situated towards the inside you'd say ok for example deep the bones are deep to the skin so it doesn't mean if you're talking about this side of the bone or this bone or side of the bone the bones are always deep too the skin okay now proximal which means situated closer to the origin of the body for example proximal the elbow is proximal to the wrist and distal which means situated farther from the origin of the body for example distal the wrist is distal to the elbow and this is always taken for some type of an origin or point of origin with regards to the limbs it's the shoulder or hip so for example the elbow is proximal and the wrist is distal but we could go to a different part and say oh actually the wrist is proximal compared to the palm of the hand which is distal or take a look at a digit and say well this bone is proximal and this bone is distal always in relation to that origin or starting position and so the anatomical terms of position are all listed here these are ones that you need to become familiar with and that you will become familiar and it'll become just part of your everyday jargon ok so now let's do some practice let's complete the following descriptions using proper anatomical terms and there may be more than one correct description so the first one is this the nose is blank and blank to the eyes pause so I say pause so you can figure it out now the answer is the nose is inferior and medial to the eyes next the ears are blank and blank to the nose so pause and think about it for a second the answer is the ears are lateral and posterior to the nose and doesn't matter which order you put those in you see how more than one term can be used to better accurately describe where one structures in relation to the other and how about another hair is blank to the skull think about it here is superficial to the skull or here is external to the skull both are included because the hair covers all the different parts from the outside towards the outside and let's do one more the biceps brachii muscle originates blank on the scapula and inserts blank on the radius pause you could say the biceps brachii muscle originates proximally on the scapula and inserts distally on the radius or you could also say the biceps brachii originates superiorly on the scapula and in firts inserts inverts mm-hmm and inserts inferiorly on the radius okay so now that we've done that let's now talk about planes and sections which is how can we better study the internal parts of the anatomy in their relationship so that everything inside the body and so for planes and sections the bodies often sectioned or cut along a plane to study internal anatomy now the body planes most frequently used are as follows sagittal coronal and axial and so a section bears the name of the plane along which it is cut so think of a section like you actually cut something but the plane is actually the imaginary line that you're going to then cut now for example cutting in the axial plane results in an axial section alright but for the sake of just are just are the way we're talking planes and sections are synonymous just put them even though I recognize that there is there really is a difference between because you're actually cutting as opposed to a plane but radiology and imaging we actually use these terms synonymously so often planes and sections mean the same thing okay so now words that's gonna start with the sagittal plane and what is the sagittal plane well it is a longitudinal line that divides structures into left and right parts and so for example there we have the head and neck we go Shing and we cut it and then it's going to be from that view and so the sagittal plane really helps to study anterior and posterior relationships and superior and inferior relationships with inside the human body and so there we have that view now the sagittal line there's two different ways we describe sagittal lines a midsagittal section which is right down the middle and it divides a structure into equal parts then there's a para sagittal section which then divides a structure into unti four parts and so we go Shing like this and you'll recognize the midsagittal section it's right down the middle of the head and neck where the parasagittal is actually through an orbit now with regards to the jargon whenever you see a sagittal plane usually as the assumption it's a mid sagittal plane and if it's a if it's going to be off the midline we usually call it a pair of sagittal section okay so now sagittal section or sagittal plane with regards to CT sections and CT imaging is in radiographic imaging and what happens is like a loaf of bread they just start taking slices and then every slice of bread within the loaf is what you look at individually so they'll take the imaging through that plane and then that plane in that plane in that plane in that plane in that plane in that plane all the way through and then you put a series and you look through them like like individual slices of bread within a loaf of bread so for example here is now going the bottom right picture shows the orientation of what we're looking at with the vertical line you're gonna see moving and then we just start moving through and you see every plane this is a sagittal section and it allows us to see anterior-posterior relationships and superior in fear relationships and you see that moving line in the picture in the bottom right it's showing you where in the body that plane or section is being taken from so there is a sagittal plane next let's talk about a coronal also known as frontal plane they're synonymous terms and this is also a longitudinal line which means it goes up and down and it divides a structure into anterior and posterior parts for example like this there's a line and Shing separating it and that's the view in which we see it so if we now twist we see this is what the plane or this the coronal planar section what it looks like and this is really good for studying relationships and refton right and left and also superior and inferior views so there it is there's the plane you divide the structure into anterior and posterior parts and when you look you get a superior in fear right and left direction and so let's talk take a look at what it'd be like in CT sections or images and so we take a line and then we just keep moving that line and taking a picture taking a picture taking a picture all the way through and so now you're slicing the loaf of bread in a different plane or section and so here we have it and the bottom right picture shows a cross-section because it helps you see where the coronal plane is taken so you're gonna see that line that's horizontal line moving and now we just see see the horizontal line moving in the bottom right and it's taking a picture in coronal planes moving front to back and again you see good right and left and superior and inferior relationships in this view all right and then finally we have axial plane in the axial plane is a horizontal line goes side to side and it's also known as an axial planar section or horizontal or transverse or cross section sometimes use the letter X all of those are synonymous yeah it's a pain in the derriere and I'm really sorry about that I'm the messenger in this case all right so a horizontal line and it divides a structure into superior and inferior parts for example like this and she and we separated now here we have a little bit of a tangent I'm going to take because what happens is we have these two different sections now the anatomy view classically is to view this section from head to foot as if you're looking down like that now and that's what the picture ends up looking like in contrast the radiology view is always viewed from foot to head like this and it looks like that and so what happens then is we get this distinction and I wish back in 1970 Ditka t7 whenever it was when CT images really really started making it big that anatomist and in radiologists at town and they had a cup of tea just had a spot of tea and said hey you know it would be silly if we did cross-sections and we just looked at it from different views you did it from head to foot and we looked it from foot to head wouldn't that be silly but the problem is it didn't happen and so anatomist in cross-sections view it from head to foot and radiologists from foot to head and you think how in the world could something like that happen there's a few things in life that I think a spot tea would have really helped if we would have had this discussion years before so that we'd be consistent in certain things but anywho I'm always going to take it from the radiology view because that's how you're going to be viewing that's how health professionals will view axial sections for the rest of their career which is either axial CT or axial M R okay so there is an axial plane now the top of an axial plane is always anterior and the bottom is always posterior and if you forget that just think oh the patient's line on the table like this green feet because I like the Incredible Hulk but always remember it's from basically from your looking as if the patient's lying on a table okay now what about right and left the right and left is located like this because you're viewing from foot to head now what happens if you forget right and left well way I remember this is you take your right hand and then you say I want to meet my patient and then you shake the patient's right hand like this okay you see that so your right hand goes to the side with your patient's right hand have you ever shake a patient's your right hand and you shake a patient's left hand that's really awkward that's one of those weird situations so shake their hand introduce yourself to them and that's how you know which is the right and left okay so there are the orientations so when we do axial plane or CT sections what happens is they they're they're lying on their backs and they move through machine and these images are taken at a horizontal plane at these different sections all the way down and so you'll notice the picture in the bottom right shows where the cross section is taken and then you just start moving through and you see that horizontal line in the bottom right showing what level or axial plane we're at and this is really good for showing right and left relationships as well as anterior and posterior relationships all right let's use a little bit of practice shall we identify the planes and sections demonstrating the following radiograph so when I show them there's a B and C describe what the plane sections for each of these are and you can pause it because I'm going to go on to the answer in a second all right and the answers are a is showing an axial plane where it shows anterior and your right and left orientation of anatomy really nicely and then a sagittal is showing anterior and posterior and superior inferior relationships and the coronal is showing the left and right and superior inferior relationships how about another one identify the letter on this CT this that best describes or best indicates the posterior left region of this patient's trunk post your left region so pause and find that all right well posterior because the patient's line on their back is here and then you shake your left hand with their left hand and there we have it so the letter F best shows the posterior left region of this patient's trunk okay like that Shing all right so now this is introduction to anatomy in a nutshell here we have the body in anatomical position with the patient facing forward arms are to the side hands facing anteriorly with the thumbs pointing laterally and then directional terms are listed here that we describe any anatomical position in relation to another and the best way to view the anatomy is through the following planes and section sagittal coronal and axial and that my friends is an introduction to anatomy in a nutshell [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] mm-hmm [Music] [Applause] [Music]