Thoracic splanchnic nerves
Nervi splanchnici thoracici (major, minor, imus)
NervousNervesWhole body
- What it is
- Three nerves on each side that leave the thoracic sympathetic ganglia and run down and forward over the sides of the vertebral bodies, piercing the crura of the diaphragm: the greater splanchnic (roots T5-T9) ends in the celiac ganglion, the lesser (T10-T11) in the aorticorenal ganglion and the least (T12) in the renal plexus.
- Function
- Carry preganglionic sympathetic fibres that pass through the chain without synapsing, to relay in the abdominal prevertebral ganglia (and directly to the adrenal medulla), plus pain fibres from the upper abdominal organs.
- Size
- Greater splanchnic ~2-3 mm thick and ~20 cm long; lesser and least thinner
- Clinical note
- Because they carry visceral pain, blocking or cutting them (splanchnicectomy) relieves the severe pain of pancreatic cancer and chronic pancreatitis.