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 21, 2008

Sympathectomy improves skin blood flow at the thermoregulatory but not the nutritive level

These results indicate that in case of lower limb ischemia, sympathectomy improves skin blood flow at the thermoregulatory but not the nutritive level of skin microcirculation. This may be related to the fact that the thermoregulatory vessels are mainly sympathetically controlled, whereas the nutritive capillaries are mainly controlled by local (nonneural) factors.

François M.H. van Dielen1, Harrie A.J.M. Kurvers1, Ruben Dammers1, Mirjam G.A. oude Egbrink2, Dick W. Slaaf3, Jan H.M. Tordoir1 and Peter J.E.H.M. Kitslaar1

(1) Department of General Surgery, Cardiovascular Research Institute Maastricht and University Hospital Maastricht, PO Box 5800, 6202 AZ Maastricht, The Netherlands, NL
(2) Department of Physiology, Cardiovascular Research Institute Maastricht, PO Box 616, 6200 MD Maastricht, The Netherlands, NL
(3) Department of Biophysics, Cardiovascular Research Institute Maastricht, PO Box 616, 6200 MD Maastricht, The Netherlands, NL

World Journal of Surgery Volume 22, Number 8 / August, 1998