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

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

Impaired autonomic function results in impaired cerebral regulation

The absence of an increase in the power of 0.1 Hz blood pressure and cerebral blood flow velocity oscillations confirmed autonomic neuropathy in the diabetic patients. Gain analysis did not show altered cerebral regulation. The decrease in phase shift in the patients indicates a more passive transmission of neck suction-induced blood pressure fluctuations onto the cerebrovascular circulation, i.e. altered cerebral regulation, in the patients, and is therefore suited to identifying subtle impairment of cerebral regulation in these patients.
http://www.springerlink.com/content/14m7g478j7ux11hv/