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, February 15, 2009

The integrative relationship between insulin and insulin-like growth factor 1-induced cardiovascular responses and sympathetic nervous responses

Lumbar sympathectomy caused greater increase in skeletal muscle blood flow in response to both insulin and IGF-1 when hypoglycemia occurred. But when hypoglycemia was prevented, IGF-1 induced increase in blood flow was suppressed in sympathetic denervated iliac artery. We concluded that insulin and IGF-1 have both similar and distinct effects on cardiovascular system and sympathetic nervous system. They both may act directly on vasculature to elicit vasodilation thus decrease MAP Insulin can selectively increase sympathetic nerve activity, while IGF-1 decreases sympathetic nerve activity.
Zhengbo Duanmu, Wayne State University