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

Sunday, May 1, 2011

mechanism of pulmonary edema following sympathectomy

Unilateral pulmonary edema is unusual in presentation and is mainly seen in the re-expansion phase after pneumothorax, systemic-to-pulmonary shunt, parenchymal lung disease, and unilateral sympathectomy. The mechanisms of unilateral pulmonary edema include an increase in capillary blood flow, reduced surfactant, rapid re-expansion of a collapsed lung, and disruption of venular post-capillary sphincter function after sympathectomy.1–3
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1527-5299.2005.03861.x/full