<Tr> <Td_colspan="2"> Anatomical terminology (edit on Wikidata) </Td> </Tr> <P> The sympathetic trunks (sympathetic chain, gangliated cord) are a paired bundle of nerve fibers that run from the base of the skull to the coccyx . </P> <P> The sympathetic trunk lies just lateral to the vertebral bodies for the entire length of the vertebral column . It interacts with the anterior rami of spinal nerves by way of rami communicantes . The sympathetic trunk permits preganglionic fibers of the sympathetic nervous system to ascend to spinal levels superior to T1 and descend to spinal levels inferior to L2 / 3 . </P> <P> The superior end of it is continued upward through the carotid canal into the skull, and forms a plexus on the internal carotid artery; the inferior part travels in front of the coccyx, where it converges with the other trunk at a structure known as the ganglion impar . </P>

What nerve structure is just lateral to the bodies of the thoracic vertebrae