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

Monday, January 5, 2009

norepinephrine could not be synthesized and/or accumulated in the heart following bilateral cervical sympathectomy

After bilateral cervical sympathectomy, the norepinephrine content show a rapid decrease from 4 days to 7 days and a slow decrease within the following 14 days. No tendency of recovery was apparent in the heart for 50 days following the operation, the norepinephrine content remaining almost at an equal level.
It was postulated that norepinephrine could not be synthesized and/or accumulated in the heart following bilateral cervical sympathectomy, but that cardiac muscle might synthesize dopamine for itself.

Japanese circulation journal

Vol.29, No.1(19650120) pp. 11-15

KIMATA SHIN-ICHI 1

1The Third Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Tokyo