T5 spinal nerve

Nervus spinalis T5

NervousNervesThoraxLeft and right

View left in 3D View right in 3D

What it is
The T5 spinal nerve leaves the spinal canal between T5 and T6. Its sensory (dorsal) and motor (ventral) roots meet just beyond the dorsal root ganglion; the short mixed nerve then splits into a small dorsal ramus for the back muscles and skin and a larger ventral ramus, which becomes the 5th intercostal nerve.
Function
Carries motor fibres to the muscles of its segment (myotome) and sensation back from its strip of skin (dermatome): a band of skin around the chest below the nipples.
Size
About 2-3 mm thick; the mixed nerve is only ~1 cm long before it divides
Clinical note
Its ventral ramus is the fifth intercostal nerve; the fourth to sixth are blocked for breast and chest-drain surgery.

Nearby nervous structures 3rd intercostal nerve, T1 spinal nerve, T2 spinal nerve, T3 spinal nerve, T4 spinal nerve, T6 dorsal root ganglion, T6 spinal nerve, T7 spinal nerve, T8 spinal nerve, T9 spinal nerve