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

Friday, June 13, 2008

Changes in the level of activity of the peripheral autonomic nervous system often mirror arousal changes in the central nervous system

Arousal is both a behavioral and psychological construct. An aroused organism is alert. It is prepared to process incoming stimuli. An unaroused organism is comatose. It is not prepared to process stimuli and is unaware of of stimuli. Psychologically, arousal also refers to the excitatory state or the propensity of neurons to discharge when appropriately activated (neuronal preparation).
Changes in the level of activity of the peripheral autonomic nervous system often mirror arousal changes in the central nervous system.

The ability to sustain attention is termed vigilance. Arousal and vigilance are closely linked so that when arousal wanes, vigilance diminishes and vice versa.
By Richard J. Davidson, Kenneth Hugdahl
Published 1995
MIT Press
Cerebral dominance
735 pages
ISBN:0262540797