Inferior cervical cardiac nerve - Mediastinum - Sympathetic trunk - e-Anatomy
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Inferior cervical cardiac nerve

Nervus cardiacus cervicalis inferior

  • Eponym: Nerve of Pavlov

Definition

Inferior cervical cardiac nerve is a visceral branch of the inferior cervical (or cervicothoracic stellate) ganglion which provides postganglionic sympathetic innervation to the cardiac tissue.

The inferior cervical ganglion is the lowermost ganglion of the cervical part of the sympathetic trunk, either found independently or as part of the cervicothoracic stellate ganglion. It receives preganglionic sympathetic neurons from the lateral gray horns of the upper thoracic spinal segments. Within the ganglion, the pre-ganglionic neurons synapse with cell bodies of postganglionic sympathetic neurons, which in turn, get distributed to the deep cardiac plexus via inferior cervical cardiac nerves, to innervate the heart.

Please note that additional sympathetic nerves to the deep cardiac plexus and innervating the heart tissue, include the middle cervical cardiac nerve and thoracic cardiac nerves from superior thoracic ganglia.

References

Text written by Muhammad A. Javaid, MD, PhD © 2022 IMAIOS.

  • Drake, R.L., Vogl, A.W. and Mitchell, A.W.M. (2009). ‘Chapter 8: Head and Neck’ in Gray’s anatomy for Students. (2nd ed.) Philadelphia PA 19103-2899: Elsevier, pp. 978-981.

  • Kattar, N. and Flowers, T. Anatomy, Head and Neck, Sympathetic Chain. [Updated 2022 Sep 26]. In: StatPearls [Internet]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2022 Jan-. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK563206/

  • Standring, S. and Gray, H. (2016). ‘Chapter 57:Heart’ in Gray’s anatomy The anatomical Basis of Clinical Practice. (41st ed.) New York: Elsevier, pp. 1021-1023.

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