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

INFLUENCES OF SHORT-TERM SYMPATHECTOMY ON THE COMPOSITION OF PROTEINS

The protein constituents in parasympathetically evoked saliva from normal and short-term sympathectomized parotid glands were compared. There was a reduction in all proline-rich proteins (PRP) in the saliva following sympathectomy. The decrease was quantified for acidic PRP by high-performance ion-exchange chromatography, which showed an increase in the ratio of amylase to other proteins. These results suggest that sympathetic impulses influence the synthesis of PRP and amylase in opposite directions.
http://ep.physoc.org/content/73/1/139.abstract