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, August 1, 2009

enhanced hyperalgesic response following sympathectomy

We report on the ability of a delayed sympathectomy after a prolonged hyperalgesia to result in a subsequent enhanced hyperalgesic response. Sympathectomy was performed one day after injection of prostaglandin E2 plus rolipram, which induces a prolonged sympathetically-maintained hyperalgesia [Aley K. O. and Levine J. D. (1995) Eur. J. Pharmac. 273, 107-112].
http://cat.inist.fr/?aModele=afficheN&cpsidt=3017786