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

Thursday, May 21, 2009

Injury of peripheral nerves often results in hyperalgesia

Injury of peripheral nerves often results in hyperalgesia (an increased sensitivity to painful stimuli). This hyperalgesia is mediated in part by sympathetic neurotransmitters. We examined the effect of neuropeptide Y (NPY), specific Y1 and Y2 agonists, and an NPY antagonist on peripheral hyperalgesia in rats whose sciatic nerves had been partially transected. NPY and the Y2 agonist, N-acetyl [Leu28,Leu31] NPY 24–36 exacerbated both mechanical and thermal hyperalgesia, while the Y1 agonist, [Leu31, Pro34]NPY relieved thermal hyperalgesia.

School of Anatomy, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia

Brain Research
Volume 669, Issue 2, 16 January 1995, Pages 245-254