title: Variations in the number and position of human lumbar sympathetic ganglia and rami communicantes.
abstract: The purpose of this study is to provide precise anatomical and statistical information about the number and location of lumbar sympathetic ganglia and the number and length of the related rami communicantes, and to consider the neurological pathway for nociception from the low back. Three-hundred ninety-three ganglia and 719 rami communicantes from 50 human cadavers were identified by gross dissection. The number of ganglia in a single lumbar chain ranged from 2 to 6, the mean being 3.9. The mean lengths of rami connected to the 1st and 5th lumbar spinal nerves, respectively, were significantly longer and shorter than those connected to the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th nerves. The lumbar sympathetic ganglia and rami communicantes were not distributed segmentally. The present results may assist in understanding the nociceptive pathway from the low back.
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, School of Medicine, Chiba University, Chuo-ku, Chiba City, Chiba, Japan. murata@anatlab1.m.chiba-u.ac.jp
authors.forename: Yasuaki
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Murata
authors.forename: Kazuhisa
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Takahashi
authors.forename: Masatsune
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Yamagata
authors.forename: Yuzuru
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Takahashi
authors.forename: Yutaka
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Shimada
authors.forename: Hideshige
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Moriya
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001837:Body Weights and Measures; D002102:Cadaver; D005260:Female; D005404:Fixatives; D005557:Formaldehyde; D005728:Ganglia, Sympathetic / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D006801:Humans; D008159:Lumbar Vertebrae; D008160:Lumbosacral Plexus / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D008297:Male
chemical_list: D005404:Fixatives; D005557:Formaldehyde