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, March 28, 2011

morphological changes in the retina noted after sympathectomy

Results: Mice treated with PDGF inhibitor AG 1296 showed an inhibition of corneal neovascularization and a reduction of pericytes in the new formed vessels compared to untreated animals. 

Retina from sympathectomized eyes receiving saline treatment had significantly  reduced PEDF mRNA and protein expression relative to the contralateral eye receiving saline treatment. These results are similar to previous work and indicate that injection alone did not alter the results. Intravitreal PEDF administration to sympathectomized eyes returned both mRNA and protein levels to those of the contralateral eye. PEDF administration also normalized retinal morphometry to prevent the sympathectomy-induced increases 
in capillary density of the outer plexiform layers, as well as the ganglion cell layer. 

Conclusions: These results suggest that one injection of PEDF can restore protein and mRNA 
levels to those noted in an untreated animal. Furthermore, these results also indicate that 
one injection of PEDF can reverse the morphological changes noted after sympathectomy 
in the retina. 
CR:  J.J. Steinle,  B.L. Lashbrook,

files.abstractsonline.com/SUPT/25/1421/SessionPDF/119.pdf