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

Saturday, October 11, 2008

sympathectomy highly controversial

This highly controversial treatment involves the destruction of nerves using surgery or chemicals, and is indicated only for profoundly disabled patients who have responded positively to sympathetic blockade and have no other treatment options. Evidence to support the use of sympathectomy is limited, and as such its use is not widely recommended. Some retrospective studies of surgical sympothectomy have shown long-term success (Schwartzman, 1997; Kim, 2002; Brandyk, 2002). However, these successful outcomes should be balanced with reports
of the negative impact of surgical sympathectomy (Furlan, 2001).