Branches
The thoracic sympathetic trunk has the following branches:
- somatic: pass out in the grey rami communicantes of each ganglion to join the associated spinal nerve
- visceral:
- cardiac branches:
- contributed to by preganglionic fibres from T1 to T5 segments
- pass to the cardiac plexus
- thoracic splanchnic nerves:
- made up of preganglionic fibres which pass through the ganglia without synapsing
- three in total: greater, lesser and least splanchnic nerves
- pass to coeliac plexus within the abdomen
- cardiac branches:
- vascular:
- vasodilator fibres
- pass along the outside of adjacent large blood vessels and ramify with them e.g. the aortic plexus
- some fibres to distal structures e.g. the forearm and lower leg, pass with spinal nerves before associating with the local vasculature
Related pages
Create an account to add page annotations
Add information to this page that would be handy to have on hand during a consultation, such as a web address or phone number. This information will always be displayed when you visit this page