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, April 5, 2008

Carotid distensibility, baroreflex sensitivity, and orthostatic stress

J Appl Physiol 99: 64-70, 2005. First published February 24, 2005; doi:10.1152/japplphysiol.01248.2004
8750-7587/05 $8.00

Carotid distensibility, baroreflex sensitivity, and orthostatic stress

Craig D. Steinback,1 Deborah D. O’Leary,2 Jason Bakker,1 Angela D. Cechetto,1 Hanif M. Ladak,3,4,6 and J. Kevin Shoemaker1,5

1Neurovascular Research Laboratory, School of Kinesiology, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario; 2Department of Community Health Sciences, Brock University, St. Catharines, Ontario; Departments of 3Medical Biophysics, 4Electrical & Computer Engineering, and 5Physiology and Pharmacology, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario; and 6Imaging Research Laboratories, Robarts Research Institute, London, Ontario, Canada

Submitted 5 November 2004 ; accepted in final form 22 February 2005

In this study, we tested the hypothesis that carotid arteries undergo rapid changes in distensibility on moving from the supine to head-up tilt (HUT) postures and, subsequently, that this change in carotid distensibility (cDa) might be associated with concurrent reductions in cardiovagal baroreflex sensitivity (BRS). Thus the effect of posture on carotid vascular mechanics and cardiovagal BRS with consideration for altered central hemodynamics (i.e., stroke volume; Doppler ultrasound) was examined. Carotid pulse pressure (cPP; Millar transducer) and contralateral B-mode ultrasound images were assessed at the carotid artery during supine and 60° HUT postures. From these measures, cDa was calculated at 5-mmHg pressure increments experienced during the cardiac cycle (n = 6). cPP (n = 9) was not different in the two postures. A smaller stroke volume being ejected into a smaller carotid artery in HUT explained the maintenance of cPP in HUT. Also, compared with supine, cDa was reset to a lower level in HUT (main effect of posture; P <> BRS (sequence method) was diminished in HUT vs. supine (P < 0.05). A positive correlation was observed between the tilt-induced changes in maximal cDa (in early systole) and cardiovagal BRS (r2 = 0.75; P <> between changes in cPP, systolic vessel dimensions, or average cDa and the corresponding change in BRS. The present results indicate that HUT elicits rapid changes in carotid artery mechanics and further suggest that reductions in the maximal cDa measured in early systole contribute to reduced cardiovagal BRS with HUT.