a cross section obtained by slicing, actually or through imaging techniques, the body or any part of the body structure, in a horizontal plane, i.e., a plane that intersects the longitudinal axis at a right angle. Because actual sectioning in the transverse plane results in inferior and superior portions, an anatomic transverse section may be a two-dimensional view of the cut surface on the inferior aspect of the superior portion, or of the superior aspect of the inferior portion. By convention, in medical imaging transverse sections usually demonstrate the former. SYN: axial section.