Pain from the small intestine is referred to which regions?

• A. Upper chest
• B. Face
• C. Upper abdomen, low T spine, upper L spine
• D. Lower limbs

Answer: (C)

Visceral pain is referred to somatic regions that share the same spinal cord segments as the visceral nerves supplying the organ. For the small intestine (midgut), the sympathetic afferents enter the spinal cord around the lower thoracic to upper lumbar levels (roughly T8–L1). Because the brain interprets pain signals based on those shared spinal segments, pain from the small intestine is commonly felt in the upper abdomen and along the corresponding thoracic to upper lumbar dermatomes—i.e., the lower thoracic and upper lumbar regions. This pattern explains why the pain is reported in the upper abdomen and the low T to upper L spine. Other regions like the upper chest or face involve different visceral-somatic pathways, and the lower limbs aren’t typical sites for this source of pain.