branches
Last reviewed 01/2018
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
- 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