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, April 29, 2011

bilateral sympathectomy results in marked reduction in concentration of myocardial catecholamines - this affects contractility


Science 10 April 1959:
Vol. 129. no. 3354, pp. 967 - 968
DOI: 10.1126/science.129.3354.967
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WOO CHOO LEE 1 and F. E. SHIDEMAN 1
1 Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, University of Wisconsin, Madison
In cats bilateral sympathectomy or administration of reserpine results in a marked reduction in concentration of myocardial catecholamines. The contractility of papillary muscles from such animals is significantly less than that of muscles from untreated animals. These findings demonstrate the importance of normal levels of myocardial catecholamines in the maintenance of normal cardiac contractility.