Directional Terms

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In order to describe structures in the body of an animal it is necessary to have a system for describing the position of parts of the body in relation to other parts. For example it may be necessary to describe the position of the liver in relation to the diaphragm, or the heart in relation to the lungs. Certainly if you work in a veterinary clinic for example, it will be necessary to be able to accurately describe the position of an injury. The terms used for this are called directional terms.

The most common directional terms are right and left. However, even these are not completely straightforward especially when looking at diagrams of animals. The convention is to show the left side of the animal or organ on the right side of the page. This is the view you would get looking down on an animal lying on its back during surgery or in a post-mortem. Sometimes it is useful to imagine 'getting inside' the animal (so to speak) to check which side is which. The other common and useful directional terms are listed below and shown in the diagram.

Term

Definition

Give an example...

Dorsal

Nearer the back of the animal than

The backbone is dorsal to the belly

Ventral

Nearer the belly of the animal than

The breastbone is ventral to the heart

Cranial (or anterior)

Nearer to the skull than

The heart is cranial to the colon

Caudal (or posterior)

Nearer to the tail than

The colon is cadual to the heart

Proximal

Closer to the body than (only used for structures on limbs)

The breastbone is proximal to the tailbone

Distal

Further from the body than (only used for structures on limbs)

The tailbone is more distal than the breastbone

Medial

Nearer to the midline than

The stomach is more medial than the lungs

Lateral

Further from the midline than

The lungs is more lateral than the stomach

Ipsilateral

On the same side

The right kidney is ipsilateral to the right overies

Contralateral

On the opposite side

The right kidney is contralateral to the left kidney

Rostral

Towards the muzzle

The eyes are more rostral than the stomach

Palmar

The "walking" surface of the front paw

The front pad is more palmar to the radius

Plantar

The "walking" surface of the hind paw

The hind pad is more plantar than the tarsals

Superficial

Near the outside of the animal

The skin is more superficial than the spine

Deep

Near the centre of the animal

The muscle is more deep the skin

Note that we don't use the terms superior and inferior for animals. They are only used to describe the position of structures in the human body (and possibly apes) where the upright posture means some structures are above or superior to others.

In order to look at the structure of some of the parts or organs of the body it may be necessary to cut them open or even make thin slices of them that they can be examined under the microscope. The direction and position of slices or sections through an animal's body have their own terminology.

Using the BSAVA Textbook of Veterinary Nursing, can you name & briefly describe four of the sectional planes?

median/ mid-sagittal plane - a line which divides the body into left and right halves

sagittal/paramedian plane- any line parallel to the median plane

dorsal plane- parallel to the back of the animal

traverse plane - perpendicular to the long axis of the animal

Body Cavities

Anatomically, the body can be divided into different compartments. For each of the following body cavity, can you give a description of each & at least two body organs that can be found within?

• Thorax - lungs, heart -

• Abdomen - liver, spleen - mid section

• Pelvic- colon, rectum - not physical separated (anatomical term)

• Mediastinum- heart, trachea - space in the antreia chest

• Coelom (birds & reptiles)- heart, liver 

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