Abstract
The anterior branches of the four upper cervical spinal nerves (C1 to C4) form the cervical plexus, which is covered by the sternocleidomastoid muscle. The branches of the cervical plexus carry motor, sensory, proprioceptive, and autonomous fibers and divide into superficial cutaneous branches penetrating the cervical fascia and deeper muscular branches that mainly innervate the joints and muscles. The cutaneous branches of the cervical plexus are the lesser occipital nerve, great auricular nerve, transverse cervical (colli) nerve, and supraclavicular nerves. The muscular branches of the cervical plexus include segmentally arranged nerve branches supplying the deeper anterior neck muscles as well as the inferior descending cervical nerve, the trapezius branch, and the phrenic nerve. Ultrasound-guided block of superficial cervical plexus and landmark-guided injections of deep and superficial cervical plexus have been described.
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Jankovic, D., Peng, P. (2022). Cervical Plexus Block. In: Jankovic, D., Peng, P. (eds) Regional Nerve Blocks in Anesthesia and Pain Therapy. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-88727-8_13
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-88727-8_13
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