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

Sunday, April 20, 2008

The effect of splanchnic nerve section on the sensitivity of the adrenal cortex to adrenocorticotrophin in the calf

1. Adrenal cortical responses to adrenocorticotrophin (ACTH) in conscious 2-6-week-old calves, in which both splanchnic nerves had been cut at least 7 days previously, were compared with those of normal calves of the same age in order to discover whether splanchnic nerve section affects the sensitivity of the adrenal cortex to the trophin. 2. In one series of experiments an increase in the release of endogenous ACTH was elicited by an i.v. infusion of noradrenaline (333 ng min-1 kg-1 for 10 min) and in another the concentration of ACTH in the plasma was artificially increased by infusing synthetic ACTH1-24 intravenously at either 5 or 10 ng min-1 kg-1 for 10 min. 3. In all groups mean plasma ACTH was linearly related to mean plasma cortisol and the sensitivity of the adrenal steroidogenic response to ACTH was found to be substantially reduced 7 or more days after section of both splanchnic nerves.

A V Edwards and C T Jones
Physiological Laboratory, University of Cambridge.