Part 2 book ““Anatomy for anaesthetist” has contents: The peripheral nerves, the autonomic nervous system, the cranial nerves, miscellaneous zones of interest, the anatomy of pain. Invite reference you. | Part 4 The Peripheral Nerves Anatomy for Anaesthetists, Ninth Edition. Harold Ellis and Andrew Lawson. C 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Published 2014 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. The spinal nerves There are 31 pairs of spinal nerves – eight cervical, 12 thoracic, five lumbar, five sacral and one coccygeal. Each is formed by the fusion of an anterior and posterior spinal root. The anterior (ventral) roots (Fig. 117) are motor and emerge in series from the anterior grey column of the spinal cord, each as a tuft of nerve rootlets. The posterior (dorsal) roots (Fig. 117) are sensory and enter the cord in series along a posterolateral groove overlying the posterior grey column. Each posterior root carries a ganglion, immediately distal to which the anterior and posterior roots meet to form a spinal nerve. In addition to the anterior and posterior nerve roots, the spinal cord bears a third and lateral set of nerve roots: the series of filaments from the upper four to six cervical segments that unite to form the spinal root of the accessory nerve (page 289). This root ascends alongside the cord through the foramen magnum. The spinal nerves each give off a small meningeal branch, which re-enters the intervertebral canal and supplies the adjacent blood vessels and ligaments, then almost at once divide into the anterior and posterior primary rami. The arrangement of a ‘typical’ spinal nerve (Fig. 122) is as follows: 1 The posterior primary ramus passes backwards between the transverse processes and then divides into a medial and lateral branch. These supply the adjacent vertebral muscles and send (from one or other branch) a cutaneous supply to the overlying skin. 2 The anterior primary ramus is linked to the sympathetic chain by a white and grey ramus communicans. It then runs in the body wall, and about half-way along its course gives off a lateral cutaneous branch that divides into anterior and posterior branches. The nerve ends anteriorly by becoming the anterior .
