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, January 3, 2009

Disabling Orthostatic Hypotension Caused by Sympathectomies for Hyperhidrosis

Syncope Cases

Published Online: 16 Nov 2007

Editor(s): Roberto Garc�a-Civera, Gonzalo Bar�n-Esquivias, Jean-Jacques Blanc, Michele Brignole, Angel Moya i Mitjans, Ricardo Ruiz-Granell, Wouter Wieling

Print ISBN: 9781405151092 Online ISBN: 9780470995013

Copyright © 2006 by Blackwell Publishing

http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/summary/116842153/SUMMARY

A mismatch between intravascular volume and the required cardiac output on standing up is the most common cause of orthostatic hypotension. In a small minority of cases, however, orthostatic hypotension is not caused by volume depletion, but by impairment of the autonomic reflexes required to maintain blood pressure in the upright position. This disorder is known as autonomic failure.

In patients with autonomic failure, orthostatic hypotension is caused by an impaired capacity of sympathetic nerves to increase vascular resistance. Downward pooling of venous blood and a consequent reduction in stroke volume and cardiac output lead to the orthostatic fall in arterial pressure.