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

Monday, September 20, 2010

Denervation supersensitivity in the denervated heart

The guanethidine sympathectomy in 4- and 8-week old white rats increased cardiac sensitivity to acetylcholine. An increase of sensitivity to adrenaline was observed in 8 to 20 weeks of postnatal period. The significance of the changes of extracardiac effects and the cardiac sensitivity to acetylcholine and adrenaline for its chronotropic control in sympathectomized 10-14 week old rats is discussed.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3569584