Branches from this ganglion pass to: spinal nerves C7 to T1 through gray rami communicantes, the vertebral artery, forming a plexus associated with this vessel, and the heart as inferior cardiac nerves.
This ganglion may also receive white rami communicantes from thoracic spinal nerve T1, and occasionally, from T2.
The thoracic duct is a major lymphatic channel that begins in the abdomen, passes superiorly through the thorax, and ends in the venous channels in the neck.