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 15, 2008

SYMPATHECTOMY IS AN EXPERIMENT

Article
Sympathectomy as an experiment in human physiology
J. Paterson Ross
Surgical Professorial Unit, St. Bartholomew's Hospital
A Hunterian Lecture delivered at the Royal College of Surgeons, February 3, 1933.
ABSTRACT

(P.S.: It is still an experiment! There has been no objective trial or study into the effectiveness, safety and efficiacy of the procedure. No real long-term study into the effects of the surgery. There has been one study that reported that 25% of the patients operated for palmar HH said that their original condition returned within 5 years. Remember? Nerves regenerate. The sympathetic chain does not. You might end up with the return of your original symptoms, plus the many adverse effects of the surgery (decreased heart rate, lung function, abolished homeostasis, inability to maintain the correct bloodpressure, high plasma NOREPHRINE, that has been associated with joint inflammation, arthritis, also: 95 % of the patients who underwent Sympathectomy ended up with Sclerosis within 6 years!!!, irrespective of the fact if they had diabetes or not, etc etc. )