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

Wednesday, January 16, 2008

SYMPATHECTOMY FOR CEREBRAL REVASCULARIZATION

Neurosurg Focus 20(6):E7, 2006
The history of neurosurgical procedures for moyamoya
disease
CASSIUSV. C. REIS, M.D., SAMSAFAVI-ABBASI, M.D., PH.D., JOSEPHM. ZABRAMSKI, M.D.,
SEBASTIÃON. S. GUSMÃO, M.D., PH.D., ROBERTF. SPETZLER, M.D.,
ANDMARKC. PREUL, M.D.
Division of Neurological Surgery, Barrow Neurological Institute, St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical
Center, Phoenix, Arizona; and Federal University of Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Brazil
Almost 50 years of research on moyamoya disease (1957–2006) has led to the development of a variety of surgical
and medical options for its management in affected patients. Some of these options have been abandoned, others have
served as the basis for the development of better procedures, and many are still in use today. Investigators studying
moyamoya disease during this period have concluded that the best treatment is planned after studying each patient’s presenting symptoms and angiographic pattern.
The surgical procedures proposed for the treatment of moyamoya disease can be classified into three categories: direct arterial bypasses, indirect arterial bypasses, and other methods. Direct bypass methods that have been proposed are vein grafts and extracranial–intracranial anastomosis (superficial temporal artery–middle cerebral artery [STA–
MCA] anastomosis and occipital artery–MCA anastomosis). Indirect techniques that have been proposed are the following: 1) encephaloduroarteriosynangiosis; 2) encephalomyosynangiosis; 3) encephalomyoarteriosynangiosis; 4) multiple cranial bur holes; and 5) transplantation of omentum. Other options such as cervical carotid sympathectomy and superior cervical ganglionectomy have also been proposed. In this paper the authors describe the history of the development of surgical techniques for treating moyamoya disease.