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

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

long-term and repeated stellate ganglion block affect the pituitary secretions of ACTH and TSH.

The present results suggest that cervical sympathectomy in the rat increases ACTH secretion and decreases TSH secretion in the pituitary. These effects seem to be due to a mildly increased secretion of melatonin in the pineal body that probably in turn increases corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF) secretion and decreases thyrotropin-releasing hormone (TRH) secretion in the hypothalamus. Extrapolation of these findings to humans suggests that long-term and repeated stellate ganglion block would affect the pituitary secretions of ACTH and TSH. (adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH), thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH)
J Anesth (1996) 10:181-184
Cervical sympathectomy affects adrenocorticotropic hormone
and thyroid-stimulating hormone in rats
Hiroshi Iwama, Mamoru Adachi, Choichiro Tase, and Yoichi Akama
Department of Anesthesiology, Fukushima Medical College, 1 Hikarigaoka, Fukushima 960-12, Japan