The stellate ganglion is part of the sympathetic trunk. At the level of the transverse process of the C6 vertebral body, the sympathetic trunk runs in a cleavage of the prevertebral layer of the deep cervical fascia (between the deep cervical fascia proper and the alar fascia), medial to the carotid sheath (that contains the common carotid artery, the internal jugular vein and the vagus nerve (X)), and anterior to the colli longus muscle.
Sympathetic trunk (blue arrow), carotid sheath (red arrow), prevertebral and superficial layers of deep cervical fascia (cyan and yellow arrows), alar fascia (magenta arrow), buccopharyngeal fascia (green arrow), pretracheal fascia (black arrow), recurrent laryngeal nerve (brown arrow), colli longus muscle (red asterix).
