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

Nervus cardiacus cervicalis medius

Definition

Middle cervical cardiac nerve is a visceral branch of the middle cervical ganglion which provides postganglionic sympathetic innervation to the cardiac tissue.

The middle cervical ganglion is part of the cervical part of the sympathetic trunk. 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 middle cervical cardiac nerves, to innervate the heart.

Please note that additional sympathetic nerves contributing to the deep cardiac plexus and innervating the heart tissue, include the inferior 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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