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, August 31, 2008

Sympathectomy causes diminished capacity for physical sensation

Results: In the hot-plate analgesia test, sympathectomized rats increased their hot-plate latency time compared with that of sham-operated rats. Density of calcitonin gene-related peptide immunoreactive fibers in sympathectomy side of the lumbar dura mater decreased to 45.5% compared with the contralateral side. The number and size of calcitonin gene-related peptide immunoreactive cells in dorsal root ganglia showed no difference between sympathectomized and contralateral side.

Conclusion: Sympathectomy increased the pain threshold and made the sympathectomized rats hypesthetic.

An Anatomic Study of Neuropeptide Immunoreactivities in the Lumbar Dura Mater After Lumbar Sympathectomy.

Spine. 21(8):925-930, April 15, 1996.
Sekiguchi, Yasufumi MD *+; Konnai, Yasunobu MD *+; Kikuchi, Shinichi MD, PhD *; Sugiura, Yasuo MD, PhD +