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 23, 2011

Inflammation after a spinal cord injury (SCI) is nonresolving

Inflammation after a spinal cord injury (SCI) is nonresolving, and can be characterized by quantification of lymphocytes using resolution indexes (Ri) and resolution plateaus (Rp), according to an experimental study published online March 22 in Brain Pathology.

Harald PrĂ¼ss, M.D., 

http://www.mdnews.com/news/hd/2011_16/hd_651416

It is possible that sympathectomy affects non-immunological processes involved in tumor progression, such as extravasation, development of blood supply

Lacrimal gland, tear film, and dry eye syndromes 2: 

basic science and clinical relevance
Front Cover

Mechanism of adrenal cortex stimulation following cervical sympathectomy

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14022522

Effects of right cervical sympathectomy on the ascorbic acid content of adrenals of thyroidectomized female rats

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/5358480

Consequences of right cervical sympathectomy on thyroid and adrenals in castrated rats

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/5734998

Friday, April 22, 2011

cervical sympathectomy works systemically through hypothalamus endocrine system

Background: To investigate the general action of stellate ganglion block (SGB), we examined the effects of heat stimulation and cold stress on the behavior and stress hormone of the bilateral cervical sympathectomy rats as a long-term and repeated SGB model. Methods: Wistar's male rats were divided into three groups: control (C), sham operation (S) and sympathectomy (Sx) groups. After 2 weeks, two experiments were done. One was measurement of escape response time from the heat stimulus and the other was hormone measurement. Serum adreno-corticotropic hormone (ACTH), .ALPHA.-melanocyte stimulating hormone (.ALPHA.-MSH) and .BETA.-endorphine (.BETA.-END) levels were measured assigning 3 groups to 2 subgroups with and without cold stress. Results: Escape response time was significantly extended in the Sx group. ACTH in the Sx group was significantly higher than in other groups, but changes of ACTH by cold stress were similar in 3 groups. In the Sx group .ALPHA.-MSH was hardly changed by cold stress while .ALPHA.-MSH was significantly decreased in the S group. Changes of .BETA.-END by cold stress were similar in the S and Sx groups. Conclusions: These results suggest that SGB works systemically through hypothalamus endocrine system and affects stress hormone differently. (author abst.)

http://sciencelinks.jp/j-east/article/200402/000020040204A0020288.php

Unilateral cervical sympathectomy resulted in a moderate and short decrease in milk secretion

the average amount of milk given by operated animals 10 days after operation being 76-3% of the initial level. Total cervical sympathectomy (the 2nd operation was performed 1 month later) caused a much greater and more prolonged decrease in milk secretion, 59.7% of the initial level being secreted during the 10 days after operation. A gradual increase in milk secretion was observed after the operation and this increase was more gradual after total sympathectomy than after partial sympathectomy. Denervation of the thyroid and parathyroids did not decrease milk secretion. Section of the pituitary stalk in 6 goats, which included complete section (2 goats), complete section with scar tissue at the site of section and considerable damage to the median eminence of the tuber einereum (1 goat) and incomplete section (3 goats) was performed. Milk ejection disappeared completely for 7-11 days in the goats with complete section and remained defective for some weeks after, but was still effective in those where the infundibular stem and part of the glandular portion of the pituitary stalk was still intact. Milk secretion was 28.9% of the initial level in the goats with complete section and 12.9% in the goat with the scar tissue whereas it was 40.5 and 55.7% in the incompletely sectioned and control operated goats. (See also D.S.A. 21 [3081].) D.E.E.
Influence of cervical sympathectomy and pituitary stalk section upon milk secretion in goats.

Authors

TVERSKOY, G. B.

Journal

Nature 1960 Vol. 186 No. 4727 pp. 782-84

ISSN

0028-0836

DOI

10.1038/186782a0

Monday, April 18, 2011

adult neurogenesis may contribute to the functioning, and phyio- and pathology of the CNS, particularly to the etiology of neurological diseases and disorders

Neuroinflammation is a process in which the brain responds to infections, diseases and injuries [1, 2]. Neuroinflammation involve two types of immune cells: lymphocytes, monocytes and macrophages of the hematopoietic system, and microglial cells of the CNS [3, 4]. Neuroinflammation disrupts the blood-brain barrier (BBB), allowing cells from the hematopoietic system to leave the blood stream and come in contact to the injury site [5]. The immune cells respond to injuries by eliminating debris and, synthesizing and releasing a host of powerful regulatory substances, like the complements, cytokines, chemokines, glutamate, interleukins, nitric oxide, reactive oxygen species and transforming growth factors [6-10]. The substances have both beneficial and harmful effects on the cellular environment, creating further damages [11] (fig. 1). Mature astrocytes are also activated following injury to the CNS [12, 13]. 


Chronic inflammation during depressive episodes could predispose depressive patients to neurodegenerative diseases, later in life [29].
http://www.medsci.org/v05p0127.htm

The cerebral vessels became hypersensitive to epinephrine after cervical sympathectomy

The cerebral vessels became hypersensitive to epinephrine after cervical sympathectomy.
HERTZMAN, A. B., AND DILLON, J. B.
Annual Review of Physiology
Vol. 4: 187-214 (Volume publication date March 1942)