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

Saturday, January 19, 2008

AUTONOMIC NERVOUS SYSTEM

The Autonomic Nervous System:
Barometer of Emotional Intensity and Internal Conflict

A lecture given for Confer, 27th March, 2001
The material for this lecture is part of a six evening seminar ‘The New Anatomy: Exploring the Mind in the Body’ run at Chiron February-March 2001.
In standard physiology the two parts of the ANS have been perceived as functioning reciprocally: the sympathetic governing arousal, the fight or flight reaction and the parasympathetic involving relaxation, recuperation and digestion. The sympathetic nervous system is activated by any stimulus over an individual’s threshold (and the threshold can vary enormously), including feelings, and by noise, light, drugs and chemicals (e.g. caffeine).In response to the stimulus an immediate anticipatory state is generated by the release of adrenaline. This causes the heart to beat more quickly and strongly, increases blood supply to the muscles, raises blood pressure, dilates the bronchii and increases the breathing rate, raises the blood sugar level for increased energy, speeds up mental activity, increases tension in the muscles, dilates pupils and increases sweating. Non-emergency functions, such as digestion are lessened or suspended. (priming phase – short-term) Walter Cannon coined the phrase ‘fight or flight’ to describe the function of the rapid mobilisation of resources.