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, January 18, 2009

Sympathectomy impairs healing

"The effect of neuropathy on healing of the medial collateral ligament was studied in rats that
had undergone surgical sympathectomy (autonomic neuropathy) or femoral nerve transaction (sensory neuropathy). There were significant decreases in various neuropeptides, such as substance P, calcitonin gene-related peptide, and vasoactive intestinal peptide, in the denervated tissues. Impaired healing, demonstrated by significant decreases in failure force of the healing ligaments, was seen in both groups of rats."