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

Saturday, July 23, 2011

platelet aggregation significantly lower after sympathectomy

It was shown that platelet aggregation in partially (with stellate ganglia containing 25% neurons of normal amount) and completely (0,5% neurons) sympathectomized rats was significantly lower than in intact animals. Concurrently the blood coagulation system of sympathectomized rats was hyperactive. The reasons for sympathectomy-induced changes seems likely to be elevated adrenalin blood concentration in such rats.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7388153