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

Thursday, January 17, 2008

Serious negative side effects of sympathectomy


"Surgery



After all other treatments have been tried, adjusted for individual circumstances, and still found to be ineffective, surgical treatment for excessive sweating may be an option considered by your physician. There are a number of different types of surgery that are sometimes used to treat hyperhidrosis. These include local surgical procedures that remove the sweat glands and endoscopic thoracic sympathectomy (ETS). ETS, in particular, is considered a last resort because it frequently causes serious, irreversible compensatory sweating. And in fact, most physicians do not recommend ETS surgery because of the serious negative side effects of the procedure."
http://www.sweathelp.org/English/PFF_Treatment_Surgery.asp