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, April 23, 2008

Alterations in autonomic activity have been reported in RA and MS

Neuropsychiatry

By Randolph B. Schiffer, Stephen M. Rao, Barry S. Fogel

The SNS may elicit different, and often opposing functions at different anatomic sites. Localized denervation of draining lymph nodes, with sparing of the nerves innervating the joint, exacerbated joint pathology, but sympathetic removal of sympathetic input, either by beta-AR blockade or chemical sympathectomy with 6-OHDA or guanethidine reduced arthritic symptoms. These results suggest that noradrenergic innervation of draining lymph nodes inhibits the generation of antigen-specific T cells but promotes inflammation of the joints. A similar complexity was demonstrated after beta-agonist administration. Administration of a high dose of EPI reduced the severity of experimental arthritis by an alpha2-AR-mediated mechanism, but a low dose of EPI exacerbated joint injury. These results indicate that care must be used in manipulating the SNS therapeutically in complex diseases.
The SNS may also influence autoimmune processes in humans. Alterations in autonomic activity have been reported in RA and MS, but it is not known whether these changes are induced in response to disease or whether alterations in the SNS play a role in initiating the disease. In children with juvenile RA, increased sympathetic activity and autonomic hyporesponsiveness were associated with disease exacerbation.

Published 2003
Lippincott Williams
& Wilkins