{"id":1321,"date":"2020-08-05T05:31:35","date_gmt":"2020-08-05T05:31:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/meddists.com\/learn\/pre-clinical\/anatomy\/head-and-neck\/neurovasculature\/innervation\/cervical-sympethetic-trunks\/"},"modified":"2021-10-14T13:14:17","modified_gmt":"2021-10-14T11:14:17","slug":"cervical-sympethetic-trunks","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/meddists.com\/learn\/pre-clinical\/anatomy\/skull-head-and-neck\/neurovasculature\/innervation\/cervical-sympethetic-trunks\/","title":{"rendered":"Cervical sympethetic trunks"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><div class=\"intro\">The cervical sympathetic trunks are three ganglia\u00a0that provide sympathetic innervation to the head, neck, and upper thoracic region, including the heart.<\/div><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The three ganglia emerge from and are essentially an expansion of the&nbsp;<strong>thoracic paravertebral sympathetic trunk<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>This is because the cervical spinal cord does not contain neurons that provide sympathetic innervation (<strong>lateral horn<\/strong>), therefore, it has to \u201cpull it\u201d from an external source \u2014 the thoracic lateral horns.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As we\u2019ve discussed earlier, post-ganglionic fibers of the sympathetic trunk are \u201ccarried\u201d by various arteries (internal carotid, middle meningeal, etc).<br>Pre-ganglionic fibers emerge from the upper five thoracic spinal nerves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/meddists.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/cervical_ganglia.png\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Cervical sympethetic trunks\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/meddists.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/cervical_ganglia.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-4645\"\/><\/a><figcaption><strong>Figure 1. <\/strong>Cervical sympathetic trunks<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n<span class=\"block-heading\" id=\"header_1\">\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\" class=\"wp-block-heading\" class=\"title_collection title1\">Location<\/h4>\n<\/span><span class=\"block-content\" id=\"contents_1\">\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Anterolaterally to the vertebral column<\/li><li>Posterior to the carotid sheath<\/li><li>Each of the three is located on a different level, and hence their name (superior, middle,&nbsp;and<strong>&nbsp;<\/strong>inferior cervical ganglia)<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n<\/span><span class=\"block-heading\" id=\"header_2\">\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\" class=\"wp-block-heading\" class=\"title_collection title1\">Superior cervical ganglion<\/h4>\n<\/span><span class=\"block-content\" id=\"contents_2\">\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>The largest of the three<\/li><li>Located at the level of C1-C2 vertebrae<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n<\/span><span class=\"block-heading\" id=\"header_3\">\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\" class=\"wp-block-heading\" class=\"title_collection title1\">Middle cervical ganglion<\/h4>\n<\/span><span class=\"block-content\" id=\"contents_3\">\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>The smallest of the three<\/li><li>Occasionally absent or fused with the superior cervical ganglion<\/li><li>Located at the level of C6 vertebra<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n<\/span><span class=\"block-heading\" id=\"header_4\">\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\" class=\"wp-block-heading\" class=\"title_collection title1\">Inferior cervical ganglion<\/h4>\n<\/span><span class=\"block-content\" id=\"contents_4\">\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>In most cases, it is fused with the first tosecond&nbsp; thoracic paravertebral sympathetic trunk and then it is referred to as&nbsp;the&nbsp;<strong>stellate\/cervicothoracic ganglion<\/strong><\/li><li>Located at a level between C7 vertebra and the first rib<\/li><\/ul>\n<\/span><div id=\"the_titles\" style=\"display:none;\"><h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">Location<\/h4><h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">Superior cervical ganglion<\/h4><h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">Middle cervical ganglion<\/h4><h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">Inferior cervical ganglion<\/h4><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The three ganglia emerge from and are essentially an expansion of the&nbsp;thoracic paravertebral sympathetic trunk. This is because the cervical spinal cord does not contain neurons that provide sympathetic innervation (lateral horn), therefore, it has to \u201cpull it\u201d from an external source \u2014 the thoracic lateral horns. As we\u2019ve discussed earlier, post-ganglionic fibers of the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":1159,"menu_order":2,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1321","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Cervical sympethetic trunks &#8211; Meddists<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/meddists.com\/learn\/pre-clinical\/anatomy\/skull-head-and-neck\/neurovasculature\/innervation\/cervical-sympethetic-trunks\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/meddists.com\\\/learn\\\/pre-clinical\\\/anatomy\\\/skull-head-and-neck\\\/neurovasculature\\\/innervation\\\/cervical-sympethetic-trunks\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/meddists.com\\\/learn\\\/pre-clinical\\\/anatomy\\\/skull-head-and-neck\\\/neurovasculature\\\/innervation\\\/cervical-sympethetic-trunks\\\/\",\"name\":\"Cervical sympethetic trunks &#8211; 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