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, November 30, 2008

Sympathectomy - division of adrenergic, cholinergic and sensory fibres

In general sympathectomy has been used for one or more of the following purposes:
1) to eliminate tonic or engendered responses which depend upon impulses in adrenergic nerves;
2) to eliminate visceral stores or adrenergic substances which depend upon the integrity of the postganglionic sympathetic innervation;
3) to eliminate postganglionic sympathetic tissue as a locus for the synthesis, uptake, binding, release and metabolism of adrenergic substances;
4) to eliminate visceral afferent fibers which are frequently distributed in common with autonomic nerves. The extent to which the surgical procedure is adjudged successful is usually related to the anatomical extent of the denervation and the time after operation at which the result is evaluated.
It is clear that "sympathectomy" is not a selective excision of adrenergic elements only. It is well recognized that preganglionic sympathectomy involves division of cholinergic elements ad sensory fibers.
Pharmacological Reviews, 1966 Vol. 18, No. 1. Part I