Instructions for 3D anatomy

Welcome to 3-D anatomy

To view a structure, select it from one of the pull-down menus, or select the 'show list' button and click on a structure name. After a brief pause, you will see an arrow (pointer) on each of three planes: transaxial (left), sagittal (center), and coronal (right).

Structure Groups

There are four groups of structures in the pull-down menus: Brain-hemispheric, Brain-axial, CSF/Vascular, and Bone/Nerve/Endocrine. Choose a group then a structure from the pull-down menus in one of the planes. Then hit the 'sync' button to synchronize the structure in all three planes.

Co-registered images

You can choose to view the structure on T1- or T2- weighted MRI, on FDG-PET, or on overlays of PET and MRI. Many vascular structures are more easily seen with MR-T2.

Click the image, browse the brain

You may also navigate in any of the slice planes by clicking on the image, which will take you to that point in the other two image planes, so you can view any part of the brain in three planes simultaneously. You can also choose a slice number in any plane, or move slice by slice, by pressing the up and down arrows. If the pointers get in your way, you can de-select the 'show-pointers' checkbox.

Zoom window browsing

You may also enlarge (zoom) one of the image planes by selecting '2x'. The zoom window is refreshed as you change settings in that plane.

Test yourself

You can choose to see or hide the pointers and labels by selecting 'Show pointers' or 'Show labels'. This will permit you to see a pointer and guess the name before checking it.

Recommended Browser

For this section of the Atlas, we recommend Netscape Navigator version 7 or greater for optimal performance. Internet Explorer users may experience loading delays. Check the Whole Brain Atlas website for updates.

Return to normal anatomy.