The amount of compensatory sweating depends on the patient, the damage that the white rami communicans incurs, and the amount of cell body reorganization in the spinal cord after surgery.
Other potential complications include inadequate resection of the ganglia, gustatory sweating, pneumothorax, cardiac dysfunction, post-operative pain, and finally Horner’s syndrome secondary to resection of the stellate ganglion.
www.ubcmj.com/pdf/ubcmj_2_1_2010_24-29.pdf

After severing the cervical sympathetic trunk, the cells of the cervical sympathetic ganglion undergo transneuronic degeneration
After severing the sympathetic trunk, the cells of its origin undergo complete disintegration within a year.
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1439-0442.1967.tb00255.x/abstract

Tuesday, January 22, 2008

ARE WE PAYING A HIGH PRICE FOR SYMPATHECTOMY?

ARE WE PAYING A HIGH PRICE FOR
SURGICAL SYMPATHECTOMY?
Andrea Furlana,c MD, Angela Mailisa,b MD, MSc, FRCPC (PhysMed) and
Marios Papagapioua MSc


Conclusions: Surgical sympathectomy irrespective of approach is accompanied by several potentially
disabling complications.

Surgical sympathectomy is performed in thousands of patients around the world primarily for the treatment
of bothersome palmar hyperhidrosis.1-7 Much less frequent indications are: neuropathic pain syndromes
(like Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy and Causalgia)2;8;9 , ischaemic conditions including peripheral vascular
disease and Raynaud’s phenomena2 and rarely facial blushing10, Prinzmetal’s angina11, as well as migraine,
dysmenorrhea and pancreatitis2;12

I S I S
SCIENTIFIC NEWSLETTER
Volume 4 Number 2
Summer Issue 2001