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

Sunday, January 15, 2012

Sympathectomy depresses the function of the adrenal glands, and deprives the experimental animal of its ability to react completely to the stimuli of an emergency situation

Annals of Surgery, June 1951

Joint inflammation is reduced by dorsal rhizotomy and not by sympathectomy

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8017984

Effect of local sympathectomy on 24-h changes in mitogenic responses and lymphocyte subset populations

Wistar male rats received a bilateral superior cervical ganglionectomy or sham-operation and 10 days later were injected with Freund’s complete adjuvant or its vehicle. Two days later, rats were killed at six different time intervals throughout a 24-h cycle. The mitogenic effect of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and concanavalin A (Con A) and the relative size of lymphocyte subset populations were measured in submaxillary lymph nodes. Cells from sympathectomized lymph nodes showed a lower response to Con A. Freund’s adjuvant injection decreased amplitude of daily rhythm in Con A response, an effect prevented by denervation. Generally, ganglionectomy increased Con A response at the early phase of arthritis. Acrophases for Con A and LPS effect occurred at early afternoon and did not change after ganglionectomy. Administration of Freund’s adjuvant caused a 10-h advance in acrophase of LPS mitogenic activity, an effect prevented by ganglionectomy. Significant 24-h rhythms were observed in relative size of lymph node B and T cells. Denervation augmented amplitude of rhythm in B cells in adjuvant’s vehicle-injected rats. As far as T lymphocyte subsets, acrophases occurred at the afternoon (CD4+ and CD4+–CD8+ cell types) or at night (CD8+ cell types). Immunization augmented amplitude of 24-h rhythms in CD4+–CD8+ cells regardless of innervation whereas denervation counteracted the suppression of daily rhythm in CD8+ cells seen in arthritis. The results indicate that some of the changes seen in 24-h organization of immune responses in lymph nodes at an early phase of arthritis are modified by severing the local sympathetic nerves.
http://journals1.scholarsportal.info/details.xqy?uri=/00068993/v888i0002/227_eolso2ppofaa.xml