Cervical sympathetic chain involvement

Introduction In the neck, the sympathetic nervous system has two main parts, the sympathetic chain and the vertebral nerve. All cervical sympathetic ganglia are gray unmyelinated posterior ganglia. They are derived from degenerative changes in the cervical spine of the sympathetic ganglia and other disorders can cause sympathetic dysfunction. If the cervical transverse process is moved forward or backward, the cervical sympathetic joint may be pulled and compressed; the intervertebral foramen may be deformed and narrowed, so that the sympathetic nerve fibers in the meniscus return branch are stimulated or oppressed, and may also cause sympathetic nerves. Dysfunction.

Cause

(1) Causes of the disease

Many causes can cause sympathetic chain syndromes, such as various acute and chronic infections, systemic or local infections, various endogenous and exogenous poisonings, as well as trauma, spinal degenerative diseases, tumors, vascular diseases and chronic Irritating lesions, etc.

(two) pathogenesis

This disease is caused by different sympathetic ganglia, which leads to the corresponding clinical manifestations. Pathological changes vary with the primary disease, caused by infectious inflammation, intracellular vacuolization and steatosis, with hyperplasia of the interstitial and surrounding tissues, edema and infiltration, poisoning and sepsis cause visible ganglion cell necrosis.

an examination

Related inspection

Cervical MRI

The sympathetic ganglia of the neck, the middle and the lower sympathetic ganglia and the fibers of the sympathetic section of the chest 2 to 5 form a heart plexus, so cervical spondylosis can cause arrhythmia in some cases. If there is a sympathetic joint between the neck 2 and the chest 5, it can cause symptoms similar to angina pectoris. The cervical sympathetic nerve is damaged, which can cause three types of reflex sympathetic dystrophy in the upper limbs. This type of case has more non-segmental radiculopathy. When the neck 5 or neck 6 nerve root is stimulated, it shows pain in the shoulder joint and joint. It can develop into shoulder arthritis and inflammation around the shoulder joint, and even shoulder atrophy.

Differential diagnosis

Differential diagnosis of cervical sympathetic chain involvement:

Sympathetic compensatory hyperthyroidism: Sympathetic hyperactivity is caused by a variety of causes of sympathetic excitability, resulting in a series of syndromes exhibited by the effector. Mainly manifested as rapid heartbeat breathing, elevated blood pressure, elevated blood sugar, peripheral vasomotor disorders, excessive sweating, dilated pupils, widened eyelids, prominent eyeballs, dizziness, burning neuralgia.

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