What is "median plane"

Median \Me"di*an\ (m[=e]"d[i^]*an), a. [L. medianus, fr. medius middle. See Medial.]

1. Being in the middle; running through the middle; as, a median groove.

2. (Zo["o]l.) Situated in the middle; lying in a plane dividing a bilateral animal into right and left halves; -- said of unpaired organs and parts; as, median coverts. Median line.

   1. (Anat.) Any line in the mesial plane; specif., either of the lines in which the mesial plane meets the surface of the body.

   2. (Geom.) The line drawn from an angle of a triangle to the middle of the opposite side; any line having the nature of a diameter.

      Median plane (Anat.), the mesial plane.

      Median point (Geom.), the point where the three median lines of a triangle mutually intersect.

n. (context anatomy English) The only plane along which the human body is roughly symmetrical, running from the top to the bottom through navel, separating the left and the right hand.

The median plane also called a midsagittal plane 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.

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.