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, August 9, 2009

Reduced Heart Rate Variability associated with incresed mortality

These results support an association between CAN (cardiovascular autonomic neuropathy) and increased risk of mortality. The stronger association observed in studies defining CAN by the presence of two or more abnormalities may be due to more severe autonomic dysfunction in these subjects or a higher frequency of other comorbid complications that contributed to their higher mortality risk. Future studies should evaluate whether early identification of subjects with CAN can lead to a reduction in mortality.
  1. Raelene E. Maser, PHD1,
  2. Braxton D. Mitchell, PHD2,
  3. Aaron I. Vinik, MD, PHD3 and
  4. Roy Freeman, MD4