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, July 10, 2008

Electrical instability of the heart following desympathization

Arkh Patol. 1981;43(6):18-24.Links

Beskrovnova NN, Ul'ianinskiĭ LS, Makarychev VA, Vikhert AM.

The time course of ultrastructural and electrophysiological disorders and their role in sudden death of ventricular fibrillation at various intervals of desympathization caused by reserpine administration were studied. Early in the effect of reserpine (up to 30 min), glycogen granules were found to accumulate in the sarcoplasm of cardiomyocytes. At later intervals (1-24 hours), along with glycogen accumulation destructive lesions of organoids were observed in the form of myofibrillar recontraction, destruction of mitochondria, degeneration of sarcolemma. These changes are morphologic reflections of metabolic disorders developing in the myocardium under conditions of acute desympathization of the patient, and may be one of the causes of increased vulnerability of the heart in fibrillation.