Cervicothoracic Sympathetic Anatomy And Clinical Significance

Objective: Through the study of the general structure and microscopic anatomy of the cervical sympathetic nervous system to represent the position with the adjacent sympathetic relationship to understand the mechanism of the clinical symptoms. Knowning of the general structure and microscopic anatomy of the upper thoracic sympathetic nervous, we can understand the relationship between the cervical sympathetic nervous and the upper thoracic sympathetic nervous, which can provide the theoretic basis for clinical diagnosis and treatment.Methods: The detection about the position of the cervicothoracid sympathetic nervous system and the relationship between it and the tissues around was researched by dissecting 30 adult cadavers (20 men compared with 10 women) soaked in formalin.Results : There were communicating branches between the cercical sympathetic ganglion and the surfaces of the vertebral arteries. Extensive communicating branches existed between brachial plexus and cervical ganglion. And upper thoracic sympathetic nerves were mostly located at homologue inter-costal the probability of appearing at the superior border or surface of the inferiority rib increased gradually as segment moving down.Conclusions: There was obviously provocative anatomical basal structure of the truncus sympathicus cervicalis, and any tiny changes of the cervical part could result the irritation of the cercical sympathetic nerves, which caused symptoms of the peripheral nerves and the alternation of the cerebral vascular.Cutting off sympathetic nerves was feasible treatment to diseases induced by hyperexcitability of it, but the determinate range was hard to decide because there may exist compensation and interaction between cervical sympathetic ganglia and thoracic sympathetic ganglia. Sympathetic postganglionic fibers exist on the surface of the vertebral artery. Cutting off the sympathetic postganglionic fibers or dissecting the fibers covering on the vertebral artery may be a possible treatment for vertebral artery type of cervical spondylosis. But the clinical surgeries and the following researches are what we have to do in the future.