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

Thursday, May 1, 2008

when sympathectomy results in excessive hypotension, vasoconstrictor drugs may be needed

High spinal anaesthesia may block the
nociceptive and haemodynamic responses to common
surgical events such as sternotomy. The extensive sym-
pathectomy provided by high spinal anaesthesia has po-
tential benefits and risks. If cardiac sympathectomy is achieved, there may be improvements in coronary per-
fusion. Stress response may be diminished. However,
when sympathectomy results in excessive hypotension, va-
soconstrictor drugs may be needed. These agents may
have detrimental effects on the coronary circulation, by-
pass grafts, and other organs.30"32
11 Parsonnet V, Dean D, Bernstein AD. A method of uni-
form stratification of risk for evaluating the results of
surgery in acquired adult heart disease. Circulation 1989;
79 (Suppl I): 13-112.
12 Robbins GR, Wynands JE, Whalley DG, et al.