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

Friday, July 3, 2009

Changes in cerebral capillary bed

Changes in the cerebral capillary bed following cervical sympathectomy,' Arch. Neurol. and Psychiat., 1929, 21, 1102.
Tracy J. Putnam
The Cerebral Circulation: Some New Points in its Anatomy, Physiology and Pathology
J Neurol Psychopathol, Jan 1937; s1-17: 193 - 212.

Permeability and Sympathetic Nervous System

In dogs, cats, and rabbits sympathectomy reduces the penetration of dye from the blood through the synovial membrane of the knee joint.
J Neurol Psychiatry, Apr 1941; 4: 147 - 162.

Observations during lobotomy applied to patients for treatment of palmar sweating

J. Neurol. Neurosurg. Psychiatry, Aug 1954; 17: 196 - 203.
*......similar serial observa- tions on patients undergoing other intracranial operations. One patient undergoing a two-stage lumbar sympathectomy for hypertension was studied in detail. Following both operations she failed to show any marked rise in skin resistance......

Alick Elithorn, Malcolm F. Piercy, and Margaret A. Crosskey
A PERSISTING CHANGE IN PALMAR SWEATING FOLLOWING PREFRONTAL LEUCOTOMY

Increased sensitivity to insulin following sympathectomy

the increased insulin tolerance seen in patients during the immediate post-operative period after lumbo-dorsal sympathectomy is followed by a secondary stage of increased sensitivity to the drug.

E. Marley
ALTERED RESPONSE TO SMALL DOSES OF INSULIN ASSOCIATED WITH ELECTROPLEXY AND HYPOGLYCAEMIC THERAPIES
J. Neurol. Neurosurg. Psychiatry, Feb 1956; 19: 57 - 61.

Sprouting following sympathectomy- recurrence of symptoms

They showed that recovery of function after partial sympathectomy in cats depends, not on hypersensitivity, but on collateral sprouting of the surviving sympathetic fibres.
G. F. M. Russell

J. Neurol. Neurosurg. Psychiatry, Nov 1958; 21: 290 - 296.

Auto-regulation after sympathectomy

sympathectomy changes the position of upper and lower limits of auto- regulation but not the basic ability to autoregulate per se (Fitch)

J. D. Pickard, D. P. J. Boisvert, D. I. Graham, and W. Fitch
Late effects of subarachnoid haemorrhage on the response of the primate cerebral circulation to drug-induced changes in arterial blood pressure
J. Neurol. Neurosurg. Psychiatry, Oct 1979; 42: 899 - 903.

Oedema associated with the interruption of preganglionic sympathetic tract


J. Neurol. Neurosurg. Psychiatry, Mar 1992; 55: 232 - 233.
*......with Raynaud's disease or causalgia after acute interruption of post-ganglionic sympathetic fibres such as a wide-spread sympathectomy. Complete sympathetic block dilates vein and capillary and increases peripheral pooling, which raises hydrostatic pressure.....

Dilation of major cerebral arteries and cranial noncerebral vasodilation following sympathectomy

Headache Following Cervical Sympathectomy
Headache. 43(4):410-414, April 2003.
Spierings, Egilius L. H. MD, PhD

Abstract:
Background: A patient developed severe, continuous, unilateral headache that was "vascular" in nature, following cervical sympathectomy.

Objective: To determine the changes in cranial blood flow in the cat following lesioning and stimulation of the cervical sympathetic nerve.

Method: Carotid blood flow was determined by electromagnetic flowmetry and its tissue distribution by intra-arterial injection of 15-[mu]m radioactive microspheres.

Results: Following sympathetic lesioning, an increase in carotid blood flow was observed and reversed with stimulation. The distribution of carotid blood flow changed for the brain only, maintaining relatively constant tissue perfusion.

Conclusion: An increase in cerebral blood flow could not have accounted for the sympathectomy-induced headache. Dilation of major cerebral arteries and cranial noncerebral vasodilation probably constitutes its mechanism.