Cervical plexus
| Cervical plexus | |
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Dermatome distribution of the trigeminal nerve (Superficial cervical plexus visible in purple, at center bottom.)
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| Details | |
| Latin | plexus cervicalis |
| From | C1-C4 |
| Identifiers | |
| Dorlands /Elsevier |
p_24/12647686 |
| TA | Lua error in Module:Wikidata at line 744: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value). |
| TH | {{#property:P1694}} |
| TE | {{#property:P1693}} |
| FMA | {{#property:P1402}} |
| Anatomical terms of neuroanatomy
[[[d:Lua error in Module:Wikidata at line 863: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value).|edit on Wikidata]]]
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The cervical plexus is a plexus of the ventral rami of the first four cervical spinal nerves which are located from C1 to C4 cervical segment in the neck. They are located laterally to the transverse processes between prevertebral muscles from the medial side and vertebral (m. scalenus, m. levator scapulae, m. splenius cervicis) from lateral side. There is anastomosis with accessory nerve, hypoglossal nerve and sympathetic trunk.
It is located in the neck, deep to sternocleidomastoid. Nerves formed from the cervical plexus innervate the back of the head, as well as some neck muscles. The branches of the cervical plexus emerge from the posterior triangle at the nerve point, a point which lies midway on the posterior border of the sternocleidomastoid.
Branches
The cervical plexus has two types of branches: cutaneous and muscular.
- Cutaneous (4 branches):
- Great auricular nerve - innervates skin near concha auricle (outer ear) and external acoustic meatus (ear canal) (C2&C3)
- Transverse cervical nerve - innervates anterior region of neck (C2&C3)
- Lesser occipital - innervates the skin and the scalp posterosuperior to the auricle (C2)
- Supraclavicular nerves - innervate the skin above and below the clavicle (C3,C4) [1]
- Muscular
- Ansa cervicalis (loop formed from C1-C3), etc. (geniohyoid (C1 only), thyrohyoid (C1 only), sternothyroid, sternohyoid, omohyoid)
- Phrenic (C3-C5 (primarily C4))-innervates diaphragm and the pericardium
- Segmental branches (C1-C4)- innervates anterior and middle scalenes
Additionally there are two branches formed by roots of spinal nerves:
- Preauricular nerve (from the posterior roots of C2–C3)[2][3]
- Postauricular nerve (from the posterior roots of C3–C4)[3]
Diagram
Additional images
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Plan of the cervical plexus.
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The nerves of the scalp, face, and side of neck.
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The right sympathetic chain and its connections with the thoracic, abdominal, and pelvic plexuses.
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Side of neck, showing chief surface markings.
References
- ↑ Clinically Oriented Anatomy by Moore and Dally's
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- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
External links
- Anatomy figure: 25:03-02 at Human Anatomy Online, SUNY Downstate Medical Center - "Diagram of the cervical plexus"
- MedicalMnemonics.com: 268
- Diagram at msu.edu
