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, April 19, 2008

Thoracoscopic Sympathectomy for Palmar Hyperhidrosis

AORN Journal, August, 2001 by Gloria M. Allen


What controls sweating?
  a. the pineal gland
  b. the thyroid
  c. the adrenal glands
  d. the hypothalmus

What are the two types of sweat glands?
  a. apocrine and endocrine
  b. eccrine and hypothalmic
  c. apocrine and eccrine

Extending the arms at right angles of more than
   90 degrees when positioning the patient can
   cause what complication?
   a. a dislocated shoulder
   b. carpal tunnel syndrome
   c. nerve damage

Symptoms of Homer's syndrome include
   a. ipsilateral small pupil, slight ptosis of the eyelid,
      and dry face.
   b. severe thirst, slight ptosis, and hyperhidrosis.
   c. dry face, extreme ptosis, and ipsilateral pinpoint
      pupil.
   d. slight ptosis of the eyelid, oily face, and ipsilateral

Why is a thyroid profile drawn on patients who
   are scheduled for thoracoscopic sympathectomy?
   a. Thyroid function can be disrupted by hyperhidrosis.
   b. Thyroid disease can cause hyperhidrosis.
   c. All patients scheduled for surgery should have
      their thyroid function evaluated.
   d. Thyroid dysfunction can cause the surgery to

. Sweat flows so rapidly in patients with hyperhidrosis
   that little of the water and more than one-half
   of the sodium and chloride are reabsorbed,
   leaving the concentration of sodium and chloride
   as high as --.
   a. 25 mEq per L to 50 mEq per L
   b. 30 mEq per L to 60 mEq per L
   c. 50 mEq per L to 60 mEq per L

Medical conditions that can cause hyperhidrosis
   include
   a. fever, thryotoxicosis, diabetes mellitus, and
      cardiovascular disorders.
   b. cardiovascular disorders, gigantism, acromegaly,
      and Addison's disease.
   c. fever, thryotoxicosis, diabetes mellitus, hypoglycemia,
      gigantism, acromegaly, pheochromocytoma,
      cardiovascular disorders, and
      Hodgkin's disease.
   d. diabetes mellitus, cardiovascular disorders,
      hypothyroidism, dwarfism, pheochromocytoma,
Hyperhidrosis can be cold-induced, gustatory,
   olfactory, compensatory, or
   a. autoimmune modulated.
   b. psychological.
   c. idiopathic.
Sympathectomy abolishes -- sweating in
   areas supplied by postganglionic fibers.
   a. eccrine
   b. apocrine

   d. pathological.
      Addison's disease, and fever.
   d. 60 mEq per L to 75 mEq per L
      fail.
      large pupil.
   d. muscle damage
  d. eccrine and accrine
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0FSL/is_2_74/ai_77227770/pg_9