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 19, 2008

heart rate variability and body size are are correlated

R. Freeman1, 2, 8 Contact Information, S. T. Weiss4, 5, 8, M. Roberts3, 7, S. M. Zbikowski4 and D. Sparrow6, 8

1) The Division of Neurology, Deaconess Hospital, Suite 7H, 110 Francis Street, 02215 Boston, MA, USA
(2) The Department of Neurology, Beth Israel Hospital, Boston, MA, USA
(3) The Department of Medicine, Shadyside Hospital, Boston, MA, USA
(4) The Department of Medicine, Channing Laboratory, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA
(5) The Department of Medicine, Pulmonary and Critical Care Division, Beth Israel Hospital, Boston, MA, USA
(6) The Department of Veterans Affairs Outpatient Clinic, Normative Aging Study, Boston, MA, USA
(7) University of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA
(8) Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA

Received: 8 March 1995 Accepted: 19 July 1995
There is a well-recognized relationship between autonomic nervous system function and body habitus although few studies have addressed the role of the parasympathetic nervous system. A decrease in parasympathetic nervous-system-mediated heart rate variability in obesity may in part explain the mortality and morbidity that are associated with the obese state. We used multiple linear regression techniques to explore the relationship between measures of heart rate variability and anthropometric indices in 597 male participants in the Normative Aging Study. After adjustment for age and log10 heart rate, weight and body mass index were significant predictors of both the expiratory to inspiratory ratio (E/I ratio) and the difference between maximum and minimum heart rate (HRMax-Min). The abdomen-to-hip ratio and percentage body fat were not significant predictors of measures of heart rate variability. A one standard deviation change in the anthropometric index (weight, body mass index) resulted in a decrease in the E/I ratio of 0.010–0.014 and a decrease in the HRMax-Min of 0.486–0.715 beats/min. A change in the anthropometric index across the distribution (5–95 percentile) resulted in a decrease in the E/I ratio of 0.032–0.037 and a decrease in the HRMax-Min of 1.56–2.39 beats/min. These results indicate that heart rate variability and overall body size are correlated. This association could in part explain the mortality and morbidity that is associated with the obese state.