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

A role of the central catecholamine neuron in cerebral circulation.

J Neurosurg. 1986 Sep;65(3):370-5.

The effect of the central catecholaminergic neurons on the cerebral microcirculation was investigated by means of a unilateral intracerebral injection of 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA) which produced the degeneration of catecholamine (CA) nerve terminals. Subsequent observation with CA histofluorescence revealed an absence of CA fibers in the vicinity of the 6-OHDA injection site. A significant increase in regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF), measured by the hydrogen clearance method, was demonstrated in the CA-depleted cortex under normocapnia as compared with rCBF in the control cortex (CA-depleted cortex 47.0 +/- 2.8 ml/100 gm/min; control cortex 38.5 +/- 3.5 ml/100 gm/min; p less than 0.005). The increased rCBF in the cortex treated with 6-OHDA was suppressed by the iontophoretic replacement of noradrenaline (NA) to the CA-depleted cortex. An iontophoretic replacement of 10(-5) M dopamine (DA) mildly suppressed the increased rCBF in the 6-OHDA-treated cortex. The CO2 reactivity in the CA-depleted cortex was significantly lower than that of the control cortex (CA-depleted cortex 2.13% +/- 0.6%/mm Hg; control cortex 3.53% +/- 0.70%/mm Hg). No change was noticeable in the cerebral glucose metabolism in the CA-depleted cortex in an investigation based on tritiated (3H)-deoxyglucose uptake. It is suggested that the 6-OHDA-induced change in cerebral blood flow (CBF) is not secondary to alterations in cerebral metabolic rate, and that the central NA neuron system innervating intraparenchymal blood vessels regulates CBF through a direct vasoconstrictive effect on the cerebral blood vessels. The central DA neuron system may modulate the cerebral circulation as a mild vasoconstrictor.