truncus sympatheticus

truncus sympathicus [TA] sympathetic trunk: two long nerve strands, one on each side of the vertebral column, extending from the base of the skull to the coccyx. Interconnected by nerve strands, each has cervical, thoracic, lumbar, and sacral sympathetic ganglia. These receive preganglionic fibers from thoracic and upper lumbar anterior roots by way of rami communicantes, send postganglionic fibers to anterior roots by rami communicantes, and give branches to prevertebral plexuses and adjacent viscera and blood vessels.