portal vein at the level of the transpyloric plane. Spleen The lower border of the spleen lies near the transpyloric plane. Other structures the left and right colic flexure the root of the transverse mesocolon. cisterna chyli (which drains into the thoracic duct). History The transpyloric plane relates to the three-dimensional mapping of the abdomen founded on more than 10,000 measurements completed on 40 bodies, that surgeon Viscount Addison took at the turn of the 20th century. Addison reported his findings in a paper titled, "On the anatomical topography of the abdominal viscera in man, especially the gastro-intestinal canal" in which he established a baseline for the anatomy of the abdomen based on the arrangement of the map of the Earth. Using the suprasternal notch as the North Pole of the trunk, and the upper border of the pubic symphysis as the South Pole, he drew a vertical line joining these two points as his meridian. At the meridian's midpoint, he then drew a perpendicular line corresponding to the Equator. As this transverse plane crossed the pylorus, he called it the transpyloric plane. Images See also Transtubercular plane References External links Planes of the trunk. Anatomy