relevant to the pathogenesis of human dysautonomias

Systemic injection of monoclonal antibodies to neural acetylcholinesterase in adult rats caused a syndrome with permanent, complement-mediated destruction of presynaptic fibers in sympathetic ganglia and adrenal medulla. Ptosis, hypotension, bradycardia, and postural syncope ensued. In sympathetic ganglia, acetylcholinesterase activity disappeared from neuropil but not from nerve cell bodies. Choline acetyltransferase activity and ultrastructurally defined synapses were also lost. Electrical stimulation of presynaptic fibers to the superior cervical ganglion ceased to evoke end-organ responses.
This model of selective cholinergic autoimmunity represents another tool for autonomic physiology and may be relevant to the pathogenesis of human dysautonomias.
S Brimijoin and V A Lennon

Department of Pharmacology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN 55905.

Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1990 December; 87(24): 9630–9634.

James-Lang Theory of Emotion

We have experiences, and as a result, our autonomic nervous system creates physiological events such as muscular tension, heart rate increases, perspiration, dryness of the mouth, etc. This theory proposes that emotions happen as a result of these, rather than being the cause of them.

The sequence thus is as follows:

Event ==> arousal ==> interpretation ==> emotion

The bodily sensation prepares us for action, as in the Fight-or-Flight reaction. Emotions grab our attention and at least attenuate slower cognitive processing.

http://changingminds.org/explanations/theories/james_lange_emotion.htm

DURATION OF VASODILATATION AFTER LUMBAR SYMPATHECTOMY

A. Mcpherson M.B. Lpool, M.R.C.P, LAMING EVANS RESEARCH FELLOW, and A. W. L. Kessel M.B.E., M.C., F.R.C.S, CLINICAL RESEARCH ASSISTANT, INSTITUTE OF ORTHOPÆDICS, LONDON

ROYAL COLLEGE OF SURGEONS OF ENGLAND., United Kingdom

Copyright © 1956 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd.
Available online 5 September 2003.

STERILITY AND PSYCHONEUROSES FOLLOWING LUMBAR SYMPATHECTOMY

ArthurF. Hurst M.D. Oxon., F.R.C.P. Lond., SENIOR PHYSICIAN TO GUY'S HOSPITAL

Copyright © 1935 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd.
Available online 22 September 2003.

LACK OF RETURN OF VASCULAR TONE IN THE FEET AFTER SYMPATHECTOMY

R. B. Lynn M.D. Queen's Univ., Ont., F.R.C.S., F.R.C.S.E., ASSISTANT LECTURER IN SURGERY and Peter Martin V.R.D., M.Chir. Camb., F.R.C.S.E., ASSISTANT SURGEON AND LECTURER IN SURGERY POSTGRADUATE MEDICAL SCHOOL OF LONDON

Copyright © 1950 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd.
Available online 20 September 2003.

Postsympathectomy pain and changes in sensory neuropeptides

Postsympathectomy limb pain, postsympathectomy parotid pain, and Raeder's paratrigeminal syndrome are pain states associated with the loss of sympathetic fibres and in particular with postganglionic sympathetic lesions. There is a characteristic interval of about 10 days between surgical sympathectomy and onset of pain. It is proposed that this pain in man is correlated with the delayed rise in sensory neuropeptides seen in rodents after sympathectomy. These chemical changes probably reflect the sprouting of sensory fibres and may result from the greater availability of nerve growth factor after sympathectomy. The balance between the sensory and sympathetic innervations of a peripheral organ may be determined by competition for a limited supply of nerve growth factor.
Schon F.
Lancet. 1985 Nov 23;2(8465):1158-60.

Pain after sympathectomy

Surgical sympathectomies and chemical sympatholyses bring about a true sympathetic deafferentation. This leads to central retrograde degenerescence reactions of the pre-ganglionic neurons, to a reduction of the muscular tone and to a secondary neurovascular disorder at the edge of the sympathetic denervation zone.
Farcot JM, Grasser C, Muller JF.
Clinique de la Toussaint, Strasbourg.
Agressologie. 1990 Apr;31(4):191-7.

M.D.s Knock Surgery for Hyperhidrosis & Huge Insurance Scam includes ETS

(March 2005) The Canadian news magazine "Macleans" reaches nearly 3 million readers every week. In early March, this publication ran a story about the risks of severe compensatory sweating after endoscopic thoracic sympathectomy (ETS) surgery for the treatment of hyperhidrosis. The story's headline read, "Doctors knock controversial sweating treatment; Surgical procedure leaves many people dripping wet on other parts of the body." (Editor's note: As of July 2007, this article was no longer available free online. You may, however, purchase the March 2005 edition of Macleans by visiting
this link.)
According to the article, the most common problem following ETS is increased and profuse sweating on other parts of the body, most often the back, legs, groin, and abdomen. This compensatory sweating, reports Macleans, can be mild to severe and occurs in 80 to 90 percent of patients. In one study of people who had surgery for excessive underarm sweating, 90 percent of the patients reported compensatory sweating and half of them were forced to change their clothes during the day because of it.

In related news, major news outlets (including "The New York Times") have reported this week on a massive insurance scam in the US in which thousands of patients from 40 states had been transported to California to undergo unnecessary surgical and diagnostic procedures. Insurers and employers have lost US $350 million in claims paid to date due to the illegal operations.

As part of the scheme, patients traveled to outpatient surgery clinics in California to receive three or more procedures in a single week. Among the procedures unnecessarily performed on these patients, according to The New York Times, was "...a highly unusual procedure to treat 'sweaty palms.'" The paper quoted an expert who said this particular surgery "posed potential risks to the patient because it involved collapsing the patient's lungs and deactiviating a nerve near the spine."

In return for undergoing unnecessary colonoscopies, endoscopies, and surgeries for "sweaty palms", participating patients were paid anywhere from $200 to $2,000 each and may have received discounts on cosmetic surgery.
http://www.sweatsolutions.org/sweatsolutions/Article.asp?ArticleCode=19570137&EditionCode=95129982

Cervical sympathectomy affects gonadotropin-releasing hormone, luteinizing hormone and testosterone in male rats

	Journal of Anesthesia
Publisher	Springer Japan
ISSN	0913-8668 (Print) 1438-8359 (Online)
Issue	Volume 9, Number 2 / June, 1995

Hiroshi Iwama¹ , Choichiro Tase¹, Yoshikazu Tonosaki² and Yasuo Sugiura²

(1)	Department of Anesthesiology, Fukushima Medical College, 1 Hikarigaoka, 960-12 Fukushima, Japan

(2)	Department of Anatomy, Fukushima Medical College, 1 Hikarigaoka, 960-12 Fukushima, Japan

Received: 24 August 1994 Accepted: 16 December 1994

http://www.springerlink.com/content/t2v222700m284612/

a defect at the adrenoceptor level in patients with sympathectomy

Intradermal injection of 0.5 ug histamine produced equal skin reactions in normal individuals and in diabetic patients with or without evidence of autonomic neuropathy as well as in patients after lumbar sympathectomy. Addition of noradrenaline (0.1 µg) resulted in a significantly smaller skin reaction (mean ± SEM) in normals and in diabetic patients without autonomic neuropathy, but remained unchanged in diabetic patients with autonomic neuropathy and after lumbar sympathectomy when compared with the reaction to histamine alone. Addition of terbutaline produced similar results as observed with noradrenaline. These findings suggest a defect at the adrenoceptor level in diabetic patients with autonomic neuropathy and in patients with lumbar sympathectomy. Thus, the combined intradermal injection of histamine and the adrenoceptor agonists noradrenaline or terbutaline represents a simple and useful test for identifying patients with impaired adrenergic function.

A Skin Test for Autonomic Neuropathy
A. Hoffmann, D. Conen, U. Leibundgut, W. Berger

Copyright © 1982 S. Karger AG, BaselMedizinische Universitäts-Poliklinik, Departement für Innere Medizin, Kantonsspital, Basel, Schweiz

Eur Neurol 1982;21:29-33
http://content.karger.com/ProdukteDB/produkte.asp?Aktion=ShowAbstract&ArtikelNr=115450&Ausgabe=234380&ProduktNr=223840

The global recurrence rate was 8.8%

The global recurrence rate was 8.8%: 6.6% for palmar hyperhidrosis and 65% for axillary hyperhidrosis. Compensatory sweating was observed in 86.4% of the patients.

Dominique Gossot, MD^a*, Domenico Galetta, MD^a, Antoine Pascal, MD^a, Denis Debrosse, MD^a, Raffaele Caliandro, MD^a, Philippe Girard, MD^a, Jean-Baptiste Stern, MD^a, Dominique Grunenwald, MDa

Thoracic Department, Institut Mutualiste Montsouris, Paris, France

Ann Thorac Surg 2003;75:1075-1079

symptoms subsequently deteriorated

We describe a patient who underwent upper thoracic sympathectomy for palmar hyperhidrosis, and whose symptoms subsequently deteriorated, becoming worse than those on initial presentation.

---

Recurrence of hyperhidrosis after endoscopic transthoracic sympathectomy—case report and review of the literature

C.H. ORTEU ¹ , J.M. MCGREGOR ¹ , J.R. ALMEYDA ¹ M.H.A. RUSTIN ¹

¹ Dermatology Departments, The Royal Free Hospital, Pond Street, London NW3 2QG and The North Middlesex Hospital, London N18 1QX, UK

Copyright 1995 Blackwell Science Ltd

Accepted for publication 6 January 1995

The results of endoscopic sympathectomy deteriorate progressively from the immediate outcome

Intermediate-term results of endoscopic transaxillary T2 sympathectomy for primary palmar hyperhidrosis
The results of endoscopic sympathectomy deteriorate progressively from the immediate outcome.
Dr T. S.-M. Chiou ^{1 *}, S.-C. Chen ²¹Department of Neurosurgery, Chung Shan Medical and Dental College Hospital, 23, Section 1, Taichung Kang Road, Taichung, Taiwan, Republic of China
British journal of surgery
ISSN 0007-1323 CODEN BJSUAM

1999, vol. 86, n^o1, pp. 45-47 (12 ref.)

ROLE OF THE SYMPATHETIC NERVOUS SYSTEM IN THE ONSET OF HYPERTENSION IN THE RAT: THE EFFECT OF 6-OH-DOPAMINE

The magnitude of the blood pressure rise on ACTH was greater in 6-OHDA-treated rats than in intact control rats. Metabolic changes were similar.

Ming Li 1 Judith A. Whitworth 1 , 2
1 Department of Nephrology, Royal Melbourne Hospital and Howard Florey Institute of Experimental Physiology and Medicine, University of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Correspondence to 2 Professor J. A. Whitworth, School of Medicine, St George's Hospital, Kogarah, NSW 2217, Australia.
Clinical and Experimental Pharmacology and Physiology
Volume 18 Issue 4, Pages 197 - 204
Published Online: 28 Jun 2007
12 October 1990 7 December 1990

ETS for severe cases of LQT

Left cervical sympathectomy:

Selective left cervical sympathectomy
may be considered for:
1. Those with severe disease and in
whom beta blockers are contra-
indicated or AICD cannot be placed or
is not wanted. 2. Controlling VT
storms in those with an AICD, 3.
LQT3 or a personal or family history
of events during rest or sleep.


From the publication by the Cardiac Society of Australia and New Zealand,
Volume XVIII, No. 1, March 2006
This document represents the views of the Cardiac Society of Australia and New Zealand. The guidelines were approved by the Council of the CSANZ on 25th November, 2005.

Sympathectomy disrupts feedback from the viscera

Researchers have examined the role of autonomic feedback in emotional experience using the heartbeat detection paradigm. Katkin et al. (1982) found that some normal subjects can accurately detect their heartbeats, and it was those individuals who had a stronger emotional response to negative slides as determined by self-report (hantas et al. 1982)
Experiments in animals demonstrate that sympathectomy may retard aversive conditioning (DiGusto and King, 1972) most likely because sympathectomy reduces fear.
In order for feedback to occur, there must be a means for the viscera and autonomic nervous system to become activated.

Clinical Neuropsychology

By Kenneth M. Heilman, Edward Valenstein

Published by Oxford University Press US, 2003

http://books.google.com.au/books?id=VbTKTyn-XK4C&pg=PA458&lpg=PA458&dq=viscera+sympathectomy&source=web&ots=2lCUoqE7Rs&sig=90mBXjr9IGd_Worq34KzsrZRpCc&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=5&ct=result

Degeneration patterns of postganglionic fibers following sympathectomy

In the muscle nerves the first signs of an axonal degeneration of the sympathetic fibers can be recognized 4 days after surgery. The signs of axonal degeneration are most striking about 8 days p.o. They have more or less disappeared another week later. The reactions of the Schwann cells also start on the fourth day but outlast the degenerative processes by some 8 days. Thus the degenerative and reactive processes in the reg precede those in the muscle nerves by 2 days early after surgery and by 6 days 3 weeks later. Seven weeks after surgery, fragments of folded basement lamella and Remak bundles with condensed cytoplasm and numerous flat processes are persisting signs of the degeneration.
K. H. Andres, M. von Düring, W. Jänig and R. F. Schmidt
Anatomy and Embryology
Springer Berlin / Heidelberg
Volume 172, Number 2 / August, 1985
http://www.springerlink.com/content/m21m2612n2147011/

sympathectomy is associated with increased pulmonary metastases

Chemical sympathectomy is associated with increased pulmonary metastases.

Journal of Neuroimmunology 1992;37:191-202.
Brenner, GJ, Felten, SY, Felten, DL, Cohen, N and Moynihan, JA.
http://www.massgeneral.org/nprg/brenner.htm

sympathectomy involves division of adrenergic, cholinergic and sensory fibers

The excision of neural structures which elaborate adrenergic substances during the process of regulating visceral function continues to be a valuable investigative and therapeutic maneuver.
In general, sympathtectomy has been used for one or more of the following purposes:
1/ to eliminate tonic or engendered responses which depend upon impulses in adrenergic nerves;
2/ to eliminate visceral stores of adrenergic substances which depend upon the integrity of the postganglionic sympathetic innervation;
3/ to eliminate postganglionic sympathetic tissue as a locus for the synthesis, uptake, binding, release and metabolism of adrenergic substances;
4/ to eliminate visceral afferent fibers which are frequently distributed in common with autonomic nerves.
It is clear that sympathectomy is not a selective excision of adrenergic elements only. It is well recognized that preganglionic sympathectomy involves division of cholinergic elements and sensory fibers.
Although the larger portion of sympathetic inflow to an organ can be eliminated by excision of relatively large, well defined anatomical structures in the sympathetic nervous system, there may be many aberrant pathways of innervation. The structure of the terminal apparatus for innervation in most organs is not clear, and it is not known how widely or how rapidly a seemingly small residue of postganglionic fibers can proliferate or branch to occupy sites of degenerated elements.
Theodore Cooper
Surgical Sympathectomy and Adrenergic Function
Department of Surgery, St Louis University School of Medicine
Pharmacological Reviews, Vol. 18, No.1
http://pharmrev.aspetjournals.org/cgi/pdf_extract/18/1/611

Sympathectomy increases total body perspiration, not decreases it

Performing thoracoscopic T2-T3 sympathectomy for PPH affects the total body sweating response to heat.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11193740
Kopelman D, Assalia A, Ehrenreich M, Ben-Amnon Y, Bahous H, Hashmonai M.

Department of Surgery B, Rambam Medical Center and Faculty of Medicine, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa.

An ultrastructural study of the effects of right cervical sympathectomy on the sinuatrial and atrioventricular nodes in the heart

Axon profiles and terminals showing various degrees of degeneration were present in the vicinity of the nodal cells throughout the period of study. It is concluded that right cervical sympathectomy resulted in a rapid degeneration in some of the cells in the sinuatrial and atrioventricular nodes.
S S Tay, W C Wong, and E A Ling
http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=1165060

Abnormalities in autonomic cardiovascular control can impair blood supply to the brain

Abnormalities in autonomic cardiovascular control can impair blood supply to the brain and produce syncope in two different disorders: autonomic failure and neurally mediated syncope. In autonomic failure, sympathetic efferent activity is chronically impaired so that vasoconstriction is deficient, upon standing blood pressure always falls (i.e., orthostatic hypotension), and syncope or presyncope occurs. Conversely, in neurally mediated syncope, the failure of sympathetic efferent casoconstrictor traffic (and hypotension) occurs episodically and in response to a trigger. Between syncopal episodes, patients with neurally mediated syncope have normal blood pressure and orthostatic tolerance. This article reviews the characteristics of autonomic failure and describes in more detail the pathophysiology, diagnosis, and treatment of neurally mediated syncope.

Neurally Mediated Syncope and Syncope Due to Autonomic Failure: Differences and Similarities.

Review Articles

Journal of Clinical Neurophysiology. Neurocardiogenic Syncope. 14(3):183-196, May 1997.
Kaufmann, Horacio

Cannon phenomenon after sympathectomy

Sympathectomy in such cases causes classic Cannon phenomenon. This physiological phenomenon refers to the fact that the end organ that is controlled by sympathetic fibers will become uninhibited in it's chemical dysfunction. As a result, even though the sympathetic nerve fibers are not contributing to acetylcholine or norepinephrine secretion at the area of nerve damage, the partially damaged sensory nerves become uninhibited with resultant increase pain input.

In patients who have had sympathectomy, thermography shows an increase iof temperature in the focus of ephatic nerve damage (Cannon phenomenon) with secondary increase of pain and discomfort.

Chronic Pain: Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy : Prevention and Management

By Hooshang Hooshmand

Published by CRC Press, 1993

Centre for Clinical Effectiveness and Monash University

• No systematic reviews, meta-analyses, or clinical trials that evaluated the
effectiveness of endoscopic thoracic sympathectomy for treating facial
blushing were identified. However, we have identified four case series
related to the request (Drott et al. 1998, Rex et al. 1998, Telaranta 1998,
Yilmaz et al. 1996). These studies were conducted in three countries
(Sweden, Finland and the Netherlands).

• The four case series were not critically appraised because they are prone
to bias and have significant methodological problems. These studies
represent level IV evidence according to the NHMRC criteria and one
should not draw firm conclusions from their findings.

• To date, the benefits or side effects associated with endoscopic thoracic
sympathectomy for treating facial blushing have not been properly
evaluated and reported.

Omar Ahmed PhD
Centre for Clinical Effectiveness
Monash Medical Centre
Locked Bag 29
Clayton VIC 3168
Australia

Acupuncture after sympathectomy?

Sympathectomy abolishes trigger points activity.
Dr Simon L Strauss
http://www.pain-education.com/100125.php

Perioperative Thermoregulation

Neuraxial (spinal and epidural) anesthesia also impairs central thermoregulatory control via mechanisms that remain unclear. Regional anesthesia also causes a sympathectomy that prevents lower-body vasoconstriction and paralysis that prevents lower-body shivering. Consequently, hypothermia during neuraxial anesthesia is as common, and nearly as serious, as during general anesthesia.
Daniel I. Sesler, M.D.
Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists.


http://www.anzca.edu.au/events/asm/asm2007/Sessler3.htm

Long QT treatment in AU

In patients who do not respond to medication, the insertion of a pacemaker or the automatic defibrillator, or the surgical cutting of certain nerves in the neck, called cervico-thoracic sympathectomy, can be utilised.
http://www.sads.org.au/sads_info.html

sympathectomy highly controversial

This highly controversial treatment involves the destruction of nerves using surgery or chemicals, and is indicated only for profoundly disabled patients who have responded positively to sympathetic blockade and have no other treatment options. Evidence to support the use of sympathectomy is limited, and as such its use is not widely recommended. Some retrospective studies of surgical sympothectomy have shown long-term success (Schwartzman, 1997; Kim, 2002; Brandyk, 2002). However, these successful outcomes should be balanced with reports
of the negative impact of surgical sympathectomy (Furlan, 2001).

Sympathectomy causes changes in the wool growth of sheep

The left superior cervical ganglion was removed from 18 sheep. The animals were exposed to a cold environment and ear temperature was monitored to indicate the likely release of noradrenaline in the skin of the cheeks or adrenaline from the adrenals. With respect to the sympathectomized side, a reduction in ear temperature on the unoperated side was associated with lowered mitotic rate at the unoperated cheek site (P < 0.026). However, when the temperature of the unoperated side was not lowered, mitotic rate was not consistently lower on one side with respect to the other. Physiological levels of noradrenaline therefore mimicked the effects observed during the pharmacological studies, and the catecholamines may therefore play an important role in the regulation of wool growth.
DR Scobie, PI Hynd and BP Setchell
Australian Journal of Agricultural Research 45(6) 1159 - 1169

Full text doi:10.1071/AR9941159

© CSIRO 1994

Sympathectomy in the treatment of RSD

The book classifies the different stages of RSD and describes the qualitative and quantitative differences between natural endorphins and synthetic narcotics. Included are long-term follow-ups on sympathectomy patients. This important reference explains why sympathectomy fails, but nerve block and physiotherapy is successful in the treatment of RSD.
Author: H. Hooshmand
Chronic Pain
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 9780849386671
http://www.theaustralian.seekbooks.com.au/popcat.asp?storeURL=theaustralian&CatMain=MED071000&CatSub=MED022000&CatMinor=&PageNo=1&CatMode=2&a=c

Response:

However, please advise people that even after a sympathectomy the patients that have Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy, aka, Complex Regional Pain Syndrome, could still have extreme pain.

Sympathectomy may provide temporary pain relief, but after a few weeks to months it loses its effect.

http://www.rsdinfo.com/crps_and_sympathectomy.htm

Christine
http://AfflictedWithRSD.com
http://blog.christineleiendecker.com

Sympathectomy also cuts sensory nerves

Thoracoscopic Splanchnicectomy, first proposed by Dr. Lin in 1992, is a lower position of sympathetic procedure. It can relieve abdominal cancer pain originating from Pancreas, Liver, Gall Bladder, Upper GI and right Hemi-colon. Nearly hundred percent of effective pain relief is found especially on the case of pancreatic cancer.

http://www.sweathand.com/four_e.htm

Mia: is there a possibility that people who have undergone sympathectomy will not feel when they are having a heart attack, or feel the pain from internal injury, or stomach ulcers?!

Dr Lin treats these conditions with sympathectomy:

A certain percentage of Angina, Reflex sympathetic dystrophy and pain, Raynaud’s syndrome, Asthma, Schizophrenia, Social phobia, Rhinitis, Migraine, Tremoring disorders, Parkinsonism … can be treated by sympathetic surgery. Stellate Ganglion Block (SGB) is one of the best method for preoperative evaluation, which is the best way to avoid unnecessary sympathetic operation.

http://www.sweathand.com/five_e.htm#index_3

Patients receiving treatment for sweaty hands also receive surgery for Hypertension? Are they told that they are also having heart surgery?

It is worthy to notice that facial sweating is also an indicator of hypertensive cardiovascular disease. Dr. Lin found that sympathetic procedures could concommitantly treat both facial sweating and hypertension. Of course, long-term follow-up is necessary to evaluate its therapeutic and preventive effects to hypertensive cardiovascular disease.

http://www.sweathand.com/one_e.htm

Conditions treated by SYMPATHECTOMY

Lin-Telaranta Classifications

Group 1: Facial Blushing, Tremoring disorder, Rhinitis, Schizophrenia, Parkinsonism, Migraine, Raynaud’s Syndrome, Angina.

Group 2: Facial sweating with or without hand sweating; Facial sweating
and blushing, Hypertension, Angina (Hypertensive cardiac
disease), …
Group 3: Hand sweating with or without axillar sweating.
Group 4: Axillar sweating (Bromidrosis), Myofascial syndrome.
Others: Psychic disorders: Schizophrenia, Social phobia, Upper
abdominal cancer pain from Stomach, Liver, Pancreas, ….;
Plantar Hyperhidrosis.

http://www.sweathand.com/two_e.htm#Linclass

Dr Lin performed over 6000 surgeries

Postoperative sweating phenomenon is a reflex response between sympathetic system and Hypothalamus, it is absolutely not a compensatory mechanism that other parts of human body take over the sweating function of hands after operation. This is the reason why Dr. Lin insisted to use the term of reflex sweating instead of compensatory sweating. Hypothalamus is the center of Autonomic Nervous System, which influences human mind, mentality and endocrine system. Dr. Lin emphasized, “Endoscopic Sympathetic Surgery helps us open a gate to Autonomic Nervous System”.
http://www.sweathand.com/introduce_e.htm

Partial cardiac sympathetic denervation after bilateral thoracic sympathectomy in humans

Upper thoracic sympathectomy is used to treat several disorders. Sympathetic nerve fibers emanating from thoracic ganglia innervate the heart.
METHODS: Nine patients with previous upper thoracic sympathectomies (four right-sided, one left-sided, four bilateral) underwent thoracic 6-[18F]fluorodopamine scanning between 1 and 2 hours after injection of the imaging agent. In each case, a low rate of entry of norepinephrine into the arm venous drainage (norepinephrine spillover) verified upper limb sympathectomy. Data were compared with those from the interventricular septum of patients with cardiac sympathetic denervation associated with pure autonomic failure and from normal volunteers. RESULTS: All four patients with bilateral sympathectomy had low septal myocardial 6-[18F]fluorodopamine-derived radioactivity (2,673 +/- 92 nCi-kg/cc-mCi at an average of 89 minutes after injection) compared with normal volunteers (3,634 +/- 311 nCi-kg/cc-mCi at 83 minutes, N = 22, P = .007) and higher radioactivity than in patients with pure autonomic failure (1,320 +/- 300 nCi-kg/cc-mCi at 83 minutes, N = 7, P = .003).
CONCLUSIONS: Bilateral upper thoracic sympathectomy partly decreases cardiac sympathetic innervation density.

Heart Rhythm. 2005 Jun ;2:602-9 15922266
Jeffrey P Moak, Basil Eldadah, Courtney Holmes, Sandra Pechnik, David S Goldstein
http://lib.bioinfo.pl/pmid:15922266

Holter changes resulting from right-sided and bilateral infrastellate upper thoracic sympathectomy

RESULTS: Heart rate was 77 +/- 8 beats per minute before surgery on the 24-hour recording and significantly decreased after bilateral (67.8 +/- 6.5 beats per minute; p < 0.05) but not after unilateral right sympathectomy. Consistently spectral analysis variables significantly changed after bilateral surgery but showed no right-sided dominance. Little effect of sympathectomy was found on the QT interval, which tended to decrease after bilateral sympathectomy. CONCLUSIONS: Patients should be informed of the bradycardia resulting from sympathectomy.

Ann Thorac Surg. 2002 Dec ;74 (6):2076-81 12643398
Pierre Abraham, Jean Berthelot, Jacques Victor, Jean-Louis Saumet, Jean Picquet, Bernard Enon Department of Vascular Investigation and Sports Medicine, University Hospital, Angers, France

THE EFFECT OF CERVICAL SYMPATHECTOMY ON POSTERIOR PITUITARY OXYTOCIC ACTIVITY IN RATS UNDER CHRONIC STRESS.

FENDLER K, ENDROCZI E, LISSAK K.
Acta Physiol Acad Sci Hung. 1965;27:275-8.Links
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14333014

Sympathectomy-induced alterations of immunity

Many studies have demonstrated that ablation of the sympathetic nervous system (SNS) alters subsequent immune responses. Researchers have presumed that the altered immune responses are predominantly the result of the peripheral phenomenon of denervation. We, however, hypothesized that chemical sympathectomy will signal and activate the central nervous system (CNS). Activation of the CNS was determined by immunocytochemical visualization of Fos protein in brains from male C57BL/6 mice at 8, 24, and 48 h following denervation. A dramatic induction of Fos protein was found in the paraventricular nucleus (PVN) of the hypothalamus and other specific brain regions at 8 and 24 h compared to vehicle control mice. Dual-antigen labeling demonstrates that corticotrophin releasing factor (CRF)-containing neurons in the PVN are activated by chemical sympathectomy; however, neurons containing neurotransmitters which may modulate CRF neurons, such as vasopressin, tyrosine hydroxylase, and adrenocorticotropin, do not coexpress Fos. Our findings suggest an involvement of the CNS in sympathectomy-induced alterations of immunity.
Tracy A. Callahan, Jan A. Moynihan and Diane T. Piekut
Brain, Behavior, and Immunity
Volume 12, Issue 3, September 1998, Pages 230-241
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6WC1-45JK31F-F&_user=10&_rdoc=1&_fmt=&_orig=search&_sort=d&view=c&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=d3d36bb1041938df0f68d43389b44414

Oxytocin and adrenaline after sympathectomy

It is suggested that sympathetic nerves to vascular smooth muscle have a function or functions other than transmitter release and that when crushed nerves regenerate the functions do not recover at the same rate.
Sybil Lloyd and Mary Pickford
J Physiol Vol 192, Issue 1 pp 43-52
Copyright © 1967 by The Physiological Society

http://jp.physoc.org/cgi/content/abstract/192/1/43

defects in regulation of heat production, sweat and vasoconstriction - sympathectomy creates the same effect as high level spinal cord lesions

A number of workers have studied the altered vasomotor responses after sympathectomy. Usually consistently elevated basal flow was described after sympathectomy. However, reports have varied as to the changes in response to vasodilator and vasoconstrictor stimuli. Goetz found that flow to the toe did not respond to either constrictor or dilator stimuli after sympathectomy and that in some cases blood flow was decreased in response to vasodilator stimuli and increased in response to vasoconstrictor stimuli.
These authors could not correlate the changes in blood flow with changes in blood pressure. Ahmad reported a case of hyperhidrosis with homolateral sympathectomy in whom local
warming of the sympathectomized hand to 41 C caused vasoconstriction, while the nor-
mally innervated hand responded with vasodilation.

Pollock and co-workers observed what they called "defects in regulation of heat production, sweat and vasoconstriction" in patients with spinal cord lesions. They believed these defects to be due to interruption of "impulses from suprasegmental levels." In 1953 Armin, Grant, and co-workers demonstrated increased reactivity to vasoconstrictor stimuli in the denervated rabbit's ear and referred to a similar phenomenon in the human finger after sympathectomy.
The results, however, of studies on surgically sympathectomized patients are quite clearcut.
In none of the limbs studied after sympathectomy could an increase in blood flow be produced reflexly by warming; in the majority of instances the opposite response, a decrease in blood flow, was observed. The regularity with which these carefully sympathectomized limbs fail to respond to a vasodilator stimulus suggests that this procedure might be useful as a test for completeness of sympathectomy.
The vasomotor responses to the Gibbon-Landis procedure (reflex response to warming)
were studied in hemiplegic patients, subjects with "high transection" of the cord, and in
sympathectomized patients. The response in hemiplegic patients was vasodilator in nature
just as in the 3 control groups (young normal subjects, elderly subjects without demonstrable
vascular disease, and patients with arterio-sclerosis). One patient with documented tran-
section of the cord above T5 behaved like subjects after surgical sympathectomy. The differences in response in 3 other paraplegic patients may be due to differences in location
and extent of their cord lesions. Basal blood flow was higher in sympathectomized limbs
than in comparable controls. Of 11 sympathectomized limbs tested for vasodilatation in
response to the Gibbon-Landis procedure, 4 showed no response, while 7 responded with decrease in blood flow (vasoconstriction).
1957;15;518-524 Circulation Dorothy Andrews
WERTHEIMER, ARTHUR J. LEWIS, J. MURRAY STEELE and WALTER REDISCH, FRANCISCO T. TANGCO, LOTHAR
Vasomotor Responses in the Extremities of Subjects with Various Neurologic Lesions: I. Reflex Responses to Warming

CS is a serious complication and a significant number of patients may regret undergoing the operation

CS with different severity occurred in 35 patients (87.5%). Six patients (15%) regretted undergoing the operation due to the extent and severity of the CS seriously affecting their quality of life. Thoracoscopic sympathectomy is a simple procedure with a high success rate. However, CS is a serious complication and a significant number of patients may regret undergoing the operation; a careful selection of patients and comprehensive explanation are advisable.
Libson S, Kirshtein B, Mizrahi S, Lantsberg L.

Department of Surgery "A," Faculty of Health Sciences, Soroka University Medical Center, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva, Israel.

Surg Laparosc Endosc Percutan Tech. 2007 Dec;17(6):511-3

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18097311?ordinalpos=1&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_DiscoveryPanel.Pubmed_Discovery_RA&linkpos=5&log$=relatedarticles&logdbfrom=pubmed

same hospital, same team: 51% of the patients claim decreased quality of life

"The severity of the CS was also lower in children: it was absent or mild in 54.3% of the children versus 38.0% of the others, and moderate or severe in 45.7 versus 62%, respectively (P = 0.004). Fifty-one percent of the participants claimed that their quality of life decreased moderately or severely as a result of CS."
Steiner Z, Cohen Z, Kleiner O, Matar I, Mogilner J.

Department of Pediatric Surgery, Hillel Yaffe Medical Center, PO Box 169, Hadera 38100, Israel.

Pediatr Surg Int. 2008 Mar;24(3):343-7. Epub 2007 Nov 13

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17999068?ordinalpos=1&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_DiscoveryPanel.Pubmed_Discovery_RA&linkpos=1&log$=relatedarticles&logdbfrom=pubmed

41% of the patients claim quality of life decreased

41% of the participants claimed that their quality of life decreased moderately or severely as a result of CS. Only (sic!) 19.6% would not have undergone the operation in retrospect; there was a significant interesting difference regarding this issue between adults (31.4%) and children (8.8%). The extent of the CS did not change with time in 70% of the patients. It exacerbated in 10% and it diminished in 20%, usually within the first 2 postoperative years. CONCLUSIONS: Thoracoscopic sympathectomy relieves hyperhidrosis in most cases. Patients prefer relief from palmar hyperhidrosis even at the cost of a high rate of CS.
J Pediatr Surg. 2007 Jul;42(7):1238-42.
Steiner Z, Kleiner O, Hershkovitz Y, Mogilner J, Cohen Z.

Department of Pediatric Surgery, Hillel Yaffe Medical Center, Hadera 38100, Israel.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17618887?ordinalpos=1&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_RVAbstractPlus

CS severe in 35% of patients

Compensatory sweating occurred in 89% of patients and was so severe in 35% that they often had to change their clothes during the day. The frequency of compensatory sweating was not significantly different among the three groups, but severity was significantly higher after Th2-4 sympathectomy for axillary hyperhidrosis (p = 0.04). Gustatory sweating occurred in 38% of patients, and 16% of patients regretted the operation. CONCLUSIONS: Compensatory and gustatory sweating were remarkably frequent side effects after thoracoscopic sympathectomy for primary hyperhidrosis.
We encourage informing patients thoroughly about these side effects before surgery.

[My paper] Peter B Licht, Hans K Pilegaard

Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Skejby Sygehus, Aarhus University Hospital, Aarhus,
Ann Thorac Surg. 2004 Aug ;78 (2):427-31 15276490

T2 results in complete sympathectomy

Removal of only the second dorsal sympathetic. ganglion is stated to result in as complete sympathectomy, in so far. as central connections are concerned.
Annual Review of Physiology
Vol. 6: 365-390 (Volume publication date March 1944)
(doi:10.1146/annurev.ph.06.030144.002053)

Visceral Functions of the Nervous System

B A McSwiney

The pathophysiology of cervical and upper thoracic sympathetic surgery

T₂-T₃ ganglionectomy significantly decreases pulse rate and systolic blood pressure, reduces myocardial oxygen demand, increases left ventricular ejection fraction and prolongs Q-T interval. A certain loss of lung volume and decrease of pulmonary diffusion capacity for CO result from sympathectomy. Histomorphological muscle changes and neuro-histochemical and biochemical effects have also been observed.

M. Hashmonai^{1, 2} and D. Kopelman^{1, 3}

(1)	Faculty of Medicine, Technion—Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel http://www.springerlink.com/content/jrcm3h5k8pye9yyu/ Volume 13, Supplement 1 / December, 2003 Clinical Autonomic Research

11 of 72 patients were not able to accept the severe compensatory (reflex) sweating

Compensatory hyperhidrosis is the most common complication and the major reason for patient dissatisfaction with the procedure. In a recent report on the complications experienced by 72 patients with palmar hyperhidrosis treated with transthoracic endoscopic sympathectomy, all patients except one complained of compensatory hyperhidrosis, with 41.7% complaining of moderate hyperhidrosis and 43.1% severe! In this study, 11 patients were not able to accept the consequences of compensatory hyperhidrosis, even though their palms had become dry postoperatively. Compensatory hyperhidrosis following sympathectomy can be far more life disrupting than palmar hyperhidrosis in that afflicted individuals may have to change sweat-soaked clothing five or six times per day. Moran states it quite succinctly: Complications related to the surgical approach, such as Horner's syndrome, brachial plexus injuries, pneumothorax, and painful scars may occur, while following sympathectomy compensatory hyperhidrosis is usual and hyperhidrosis may recur.

TREATMENT OF HYPERHIDROSIS

Lewis P. Stolman MD, FRCP(C)

---

University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, New Jersey Medical School; and the Dermatology and Laser Center of Northern New Jersey, Livingston, New Jersey
Dermatologic Clinics
Volume 16 • Number 4 • October 1998

Exam question:

S. Neurogenic Causes (of Hypotension)
10. Post-sympathectomy
http://www.fpnotebook.com/CV/Exam/OrthstcHyptnsn.htm

Medial arterial calcification in 93% of patients who underwent sympathectomy

MAC was noted in both feet in 93 % of patients who had. undergone bilateral lumbar sympathectomy; ...
www.springerlink.com/index/EYA170TL7F6HKGVV.pdf - Similar pages - Note this
by ME Edmonds - 2000 - Cited by 45 - Related articles - All 3 versions

Mechanisms of Skeletal Tracer Uptake

However, if the sympathetic nervous control of the microvasculature is interfered with, vessels that are normally closed now open up (mechanism 5, "recruitment"), and areas of osteoid not
normally exposed to tracer are able to take it up. This "hyperemic" phenomenon is seen after
sympathectomy, stroke, fracture, osteomyelitis, and peripheral neuropathies; the counting rate will be less than twice that over normal bone.

Mechanisms of Skeletal Tracer Uptake
N. David Charkes
Temple University Hospital, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
J Nucl Med 20: 794-795, 1979

Cardiac Supersensitivity after Sympathectomy

Cardiac postjunctional supersensitivity to beta-agonists after chronic chemical sympathectomy with 6-hydroxydopamine.
Chess-Williams RG, Grassby PF, Culling W, Penny W, Broadley KJ, Sheridan DJ
Naunyn Schmiedebergs Arch Pharmacol 1985; 329:162-6.

Functional and morphological alterations have been reported in cerebral arteries after cervical sympathectomy

Innervation of the human carotid vessels is supplied by the sympathetic system, originating mainly from the superior cervical ganglion, but also from the inferior. Different methods have demonstrated profuse adrenergic innervation of the cerebral blood vessels and regulation of blood flow by the sympathetic system. Functional and morphological alterations have been reported in cerebral arteries after cervical sympathectomy, but vasospasm pathogenesis after subarachnoid haemorrhage remain controversial.

RESULTS

Histological examinations of surgical specimens confirmed ganglion tissues in all cases.

Table 1 shows mean basilar artery diameters for all groups. There were significant statistical differences between groups.

Effects of cervical sympathectomy on vasospasm induced by meningeal haemorrhage in rabbits

Antônio Tadeu de Souza Faleiros^I; Francisco Humberto de Abreu Maffei^II; Luiz Antonio de Lima Resende^III

Sympathectomy for Peripheral Arterial Insufficiency?

SYMPATHECTOMY has been performed frequently on patients with peripheral arterial insufficiency. Clinical results have varied from excellent to very poor, and, in some instances, the insufficiency has been worsened. These varying clinical results have not been completely explained by previous experimental studies.

Effect of Sympathectomy on Blood Flow in Arterial Stenosis *
ALLYN G. MAY, M.D., JAMES A. DE WEESE, M.D., CHARLES G. ROB, M.D.
From the Department of Surgery, University of Rochester School of Medicine and
Dentistry, Rochester 20, New York

sympathectomy improves skin blood flow at the thermoregulatory but not the nutritive level of skin microcirculation

The role of lumbar sympathectomy in the treatment of limb ischemia secondary to arteriosclerosis obliterans has been controversial. Increased temperature and rubor of the skin, which usually follow sympathectomy, have generally been interpreted as indicative of improved nutritive skin blood flow. However, the existence of a (nonnutritive) thermoregulatory level of skin microcirculation makes such an extrapolation questionable.

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

Sympathectomy - decreased vascular permeability

The influence of the sympathetic nervous system on capillary permeability was studied in cats. The dye penetration from the blood through the synovial membrane was tested by perfusing the two knee joints, one of which was deprived of its sympathetic nerve supply by unilateral lumbosacral sympathectomy.
Further unpublished experiments seem to support the view that increased blood supply is associated with decreased vascular permeability.

Research in Experimental Medicine D. Engel1

Complications are frequent after ETS

Complications are frequent after surgery for excessive hand sweating. Patient should be informed about the risks

[My paper] G Claes, L Räf

Kirurgiska kliniken, Borås lasarett

Lakartidningen. 1999 Feb 24;96 (8):930-2 10089743

Compensatory Sweating developed in all cases

RESULTS: CS developed in all cases. After completion of ETS, mean blood flow and temperature increased respectively. Significant correlations were found between the range of PCS and increases in palmar temperature (p<0.05) and blood flow (p<0.05). CONCLUSION: Intraoperative monitoring of increases in palmar temperature and blood flow may be useful in patients with primary hyperhidrosis, to predict the range of PCS after ETS.

J Thorac Cardiovasc Surg. 2005 Sep ;53 (9):481-5 16200888

Intraoperative prediction of compensatory sweating for thoracic sympathectomy.

[My paper] Takeo Fujita, Masayuki Mano, Hideyuki Nishi, Nobuyoshi Shimizu

Department of Cancer and Thoracic Surgery, Okayama University Graduate School of Medicine and Dentistry, Okayama, Japan.

Sympathectomy induces novel purinergic sensitivity in sciatic afferents

Acta Pharmacol Sin. 2000 Nov;21(11):1002-4.

Chen Y, Zhang YH, Bie BH, Zhao ZQ. Shanghai Institute of Physiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200031, China

Twenty eight percent of the spontaneously active afferent fibers from sciatic nerves in the sympathectomized rats responded to ATP, either with an increase or with a decrease in spontaneous firing. However, none of the fibers from the sciatic nerves in the intact rats was activated by ATP. CONCLUSION: Sympathectomy induces novel purinergic sensitivity in A afferents from sciatic nerve.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11501053

Classification of the surgery by the International Society of Sympathetic Surgeons

Here are the basics of our new classifications:
ESB2 (clamp upper end of T2 only): 2.5%, (in Europe 15%)
Facial blushing, Craniofacial sweating, Some psychic disorders, Rosacea, Vibration disorder (?), Parkinsonism (?)...
ESB3: 2.5%, (in Europe 50%)
Hyperhidrosis Palmaris with Craniofacial sweating, blushing, or any other craniofacial sympathetic disorders
ESB4: 95%, (in Europe 20%)
Hyperhidrosis Palmaris with or without axillary hyperhidrosis (Bromidrosis)
Unilateral ESB: (in Europe 15%)
Social phobia, schizophrenia, sleep disorders, addiction, cardiac arrhythmias

Conclusion: The patients are individuals with individual symptom complexes. There does not seem to exist any clear-cut Hyperhidrosis disease, Blushing disease, nor necessarily any social phobia disease, or schizophrenia disease. All these states are symptom complexes of multiple origin, and should be treated individually along the proposed guidelines.

http://www.hyperhidrosis.com/symposium.htm

Mia: If you are not comfortable undergoing the same surgery that treats heart patients and psychiatric disorders (among many), then you are advised to seek other alternative treatment for your condition.

immunoreactivity

Two days following unilateral section of the cervical vagus nerve, there was a dramatic ipsilateral increase in P2X1, P2X2, and P2X4 receptor
immunoreactivity in the cell soma of vagal efferent neurons in the dorsal vagal motor nucleus, but not in the nucleus ambiguous (72). Following
surgical sympathectomy, 28% of the spontaneously active afferent fibers in sciatic nerve responded to ATP, compared with none in intact rats
(343). After nerve injury, P2X4 receptor expression increased strikingly in hyperactive microglia, but not in neurons or astrocytes, in the
ipsilateral spinal cord; this appears to be associated with tactile allodynia (1731 and see sect. XIB9).

The sympathetic nervous system has been shown to modulate macrophage function (331), and
alterations in T- and B-lymphocyte proliferation and differentiation have been described following chemical sympathectomy (1090). Close
contacts between enteric nerves and lymphocytes in mouse intestinal mucosa and submucosa have been reported (402, 630).

Sympathetic and sensory nerves innervate bone, and sympathectomy modifies bone development and resorption (see Ref. 166). ATP, probably
released as a cotransmitter with NE, regulates Ca2+ metabolism in osteoblast-like bone cells (979). Evidence has been presented to demonstrate a
role for the sympathetic nervous system in controlling bone density via leptin that activates hypothalamic nerves, which in turn activate the
sympathetic nerves that innervate osteoblasts. ATP has been shown to inhibit bone formation by osteoblasts and to stimulate bone resorption by osteoclasts .
Physiology and Pathophysiology of Purinergic Neurotransmission
Geoffrey Burnstock
Autonomic Neuroscience Centre, Royal Free and University College Medical School, London, UnitedKingdom

Reccurrence of symptoms in 17.6% patients!

TS Chiou

Journal of neurosurgery. Spine 2005 Feb

Overall, 88 patients (96.7%) developed compensatory hyperhidrosis, with the mean initial occurrence at 8.2 weeks. The symptoms of compensatory hyperhidrosis progressively worsened to the maximum degree within another 2 weeks after onset (mean 10.3+/-1.83 weeks). In 19 patients (21.6%), symptoms of compensatory hyperhidrosis improved spontaneously within 3 months after sympathectomy (mean 13.3 weeks). Postoperative compensatory hyperhidrosis occurred in 71.4% of patients within the 1st year. Recurrent sweating occurred in only 17.6% of patients. None of these patients required repeated operation. The earliest onset of recurrent sweating was noted at 2 weeks postoperatively by three patients, and the mean initial postoperative reccurrence was 32.7 weeks after surgery.

Skin blood flow, sympathetic vasoconstrictor reflexes and pain before and after surgical sympathectomy

Changes in vascular sensitivity to cold temperature and circulating catecholamines may be responsible for vascular abnormalities. Alternatively, RSD may be associated with an abnormal (side different) reflex pattern of sympathetic vasoconstrictor neurons due to thermoregulatory and emotional stimuli generated in the central nervous system. (3) After sympathectomy, denervation supersensitivity of blood vessels and intense vasomotion may be associated with recurrence of pain in some patients.
BARON R. ⁽¹⁾ ; MAIER C. ⁽²⁾ ;
⁽¹⁾ Klinik für Neurologie, Christian-Albrechts-Universität Kiel, 24105 Kiel, ALLEMAGNE
⁽²⁾ Klinik für Anästhesiologie, Christian-Albrechts-Universität Kiel, 24105 Kiel, ALLEMAGNE
Elsevier, Amsterdam, PAYS-BAS (1975)

Regulation of adrenal angiotensin receptor subtypes: a possible mechanism for sympathectomy-induced adrenal hypertrophy

Regulation of adrenal angiotensin receptor subtypes: a possible mechanism for sympathectomy-induced adrenal hypertrophy.
Qiu, J., Nelson, S.H., Speth, R.C., Wang, D.H. J. Hypertens. (1999)

Hyperalgesia induced in the rat by the amino-terminal octapeptide of nerve growth factor.

Hyperalgesia induced in the rat by the amino-terminal octapeptide of nerve growth factor.
Taiwo, Y.O., Levine, J.D., Burch, R.M., Woo, J.E., Mobley, W.C.
Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. (1991)

Heterogeneous atrial denervation creates substrate for sustained atrial fibrillation.

Heterogeneous sympathetic atrial denervation with phenol facilitates sustained AF (atrial fibrillation).
Olgin, J.S. et al.

Baker Institute - Cardiac synthesis, processing, and coronary release of enkephalin-related peptides

Chemical sympathectomy produced an increase in total enkephalin content similar to that observed after 2-h control perfusion. This observation suggested that the normal turnover of myocardial enkephalin may depend in part on continued sympathetic influences.

⁽¹⁾ Institut Universitaire de Technologie, Université d'Auvergne, 63172 Aubière, FRANCE
⁽²⁾ Baker Medical Research Institute, Melbourne, Victoria 8008, AUSTRALIE
⁽³⁾ Cardiovascular Research Institute, University of North Texas Health Science Center, Fort Worth, Texas 76107, ETATS-UNIS
⁽⁴⁾ Laboratory of Cardiovascular Science, Gerontology Research Center, National Institute on Aging, National Institutes of Health, Baltimore, Maryland 21224-6825, ETATS-UNIS
YOUNES Antoine ⁽¹⁾ ; PEPE Salvatore ⁽²⁾ ; BARRON Barbara A. ⁽³⁾ ; SPURGEON Harold A. ⁽⁴⁾ ; LAKATTA Edward G. ⁽⁴⁾ ; CAFFREY James L. ⁽³⁾ ;
American journal of physiology. Heart and circulatory physiology ISSN 0363-6135 CODEN AJPPDI

2000, vol. 48, n^o4, pp. H1989-H1998 (41 ref.)

Sympathectomy eliminates the psychogalvanic reflex

Some Observations on the Psychogalvanic Reflex

ABRAHAM VERGHESE M.D., D.P.M.¹

¹ Department of Psychiatry, Christian Medical College & Hospital, Vellore, India

Some P.G.R. studies in a female subject who had bilateral cervical sympathectomy were described. It was found that sympathectomy abolished P.G.R. and that intra-arterial infusion of acetylcholine evoked marked P.G.R. changes in the sympathectomized limb. These findings support the theory that the P.G.R. is mediated through the cholinergic fibres of the sympathetic nervous system. Submitted on May 22, 1967

Mia: Was told by a heart specialist, jokingly that the patient can gain employment as spy after sympathectomy: it eliminates fear responses, abolishes the psychogalvanic response, and there will be no sudden jump in heart rate. No problems with lie-detectors....ever.

http://bjp.rcpsych.org/cgi/content/abstract/114/510/639

Cardiovascular collapse caused by carbon dioxide insufflation during sympathectomy

Carbon dioxide insufflation into the pleural space during one-lung anaesthesia for thoracoscopic surgery is used in some centres to improve surgical access, even though this practice has been associated with well-described cardiovascular compromise. The present report is of a 35-year-old woman undergoing thoracoscopic left dorsal sympathectomy for hyperhidrosis. During one-lung anaesthesia the insufflation of carbon dioxide into the non-ventilated hemithorax for approximately 60 seconds, using a pressure-limited gas inflow, was accompanied by profound bradycardia and hypotension that resolved promptly with the release of the gas.

Harris, R. J.
Benveniste, G.
Pfitzner, John
Citation: Anaesthesia and Intensive Care, 2002; 30 (1):86-89
Publisher: Australian Society of Anaesthetists

Cervical sympathectomy reduces the heterogeneity of oxygen saturation in small cerebrocortical veins

Sympathectomy significantly reduced this heterogeneity in the anterior cortex through a reduction in the number of low O2 saturation veins (coefficient of variation 11.7%).

H. M. Wei, A. K. Sinha and H. R. Weiss
Department of Anesthesia, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, Piscataway 08854-5635
J Cereb Blood Flow Metab. 1993 Mar;13(2):269-75

Anterior cingulate cortex: includes both the ventral and dorsal areas of the cingulate cortex, and appears to play a role in a wide variety of autonomic functions like regulation of blood pressure and heart rate, as well as rational cognitive functions, such as reward anticipation, decision-making, empathy and emotion.

Supersensitivity to substance P

The sympathetically denervated parotid gland of the rat develops a supersensitivity to substance P, and VIP injected intravenously. Further, the neuropeptide conttent (VIP and CGRP) of the parasympathetic salivary innervation tends to increase as a a consequence of sympathetic denervation. It has been reported by Harrop and Garrett that little acinar degranulation (or decrease in glandular amylase activity) occurs in the parotid gland in response to food intake in rats if subjected to unilateral sympathetic decentralization before feeding.

Neural Mecahinism of Salivary Gland Secretion By John Raymond Garrett, Jörgen
Published by Karger Publishers, 1999