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, April 4, 2011

fall in the resting membrane potential (RMP) that was identical to the effect of surgical denervation

ACh blockade using a-BuTx produced a fall in the resting membrane potential (RMP) that was identical to the effect of surgical denervation with respect to the time of onset, rate of development, and extent of change. Blockade of nerve impulses using TTX produced a similar but partial change in the RMP that began later and progressed more slowly than that of denervation. 
Similarly, the increase of extrajunctional ACh receptors following cY-BuTx-induced blockade of ACh transmission was identical to that of surgical denervation. By contrast, the effect of nerve impulse block using TTX was less pronounced at equivalent time points. 

Our findings indicate that specific pharmacological blockade of ACh transmission produces 
changes in the RMP and extrajunctional ACh receptors of skeletal muscle that are quantitatively equivalent to those of denervation. This suggests that ACh transmission itself mediates the nerve’s trophic regulation of these muscle properties. 
The Journal of Neuroscience,  Vol. 2, No. 2, pp. 232-243 . February 1982