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 13, 2008

sympathectomy impairing adrenergic transmission

The chronic bilateral cervical superior sympathectomy could provoke norepinephrine depletion in the small granular vesicles of the sympathetic terminals, impairing adrenergic transmission; this would then eliminate the constrictor sympathetic effect13. Our study is in agreement with published data where pharmacological or anatomical exclusion of the sympathetic activity prevented vasospasm24.

Antônio Tadeu de Souza FaleirosI; Francisco Humberto de Abreu MaffeiII; Luiz Antonio de Lima ResendeIII

IServices of Neurosurgery, Botucatu School of Medicine, São Paulo State University (UNESP), Botucatu, SP, Brazil
IIVascular Surgery, Botucatu School of Medicine, São Paulo State University (UNESP), Botucatu, SP, Brazil
IIINeurology, Botucatu School of Medicine, São Paulo State University (UNESP), Botucatu, SP, Brazil