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

Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Trouble in the Gap: A Bioethical and Sociological Analysis of Informed Consent for High-Risk Medical Procedures - Springer

Trouble in the Gap: A Bioethical and Sociological Analysis of Informed Consent for High-Risk Medical Procedures - Springer: "we argue that “informed” consent is a process that is usually incomplete, despite trappings and assumptions that help to create the illusion of completeness."

Thursday, March 7, 2013

Complications common after surgery for hand sweating and facial flushing

http://ltarkiv.lakartidningen.se/2001/temp/pda22739.pdf
Läkartidningen ƒ No. 15 ƒ ƒ 2001 Volume 98


in Swedish,

but you can have the article translated here

Wednesday, March 6, 2013

In the setting of sympathectomy, interference with any of the effectors evokes immediate, precipitous declines in blood pressure


"From the finding that removal of the sympathetic nerves did not affect blood pressure much, Cannon inferred that the sympathetic nervous system did not contribute to blood pressure in intact, undisturbed organism. In the 1980s, however, several reports showed  that sympathectomy compensatorily activates other effectors, such as the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system, the vasopressin system, and the adrenal medulla, and compensatory activation of these effectors maintains blood pressure at approximately normal levels. In the setting of sympathectomy, interference with any of the effectors evokes immediate, precipitous declines in blood pressure. Because Cannon was so firmly convinced of the functional unity of the sympathoadrenal system, which would be activated only in emergencies, he never considered adequately the possibility that the sympathetic nervous system might indeed contribute to levels of blood pressure and other monitored variables under resting conditions." 

Adrenaline and the Inner World:  An Introduction to Scientific Integrative Medicine

Front Cover
JHU Press01/04/2008 - Medical - 328 pages