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 5, 2008

Patients with a history of sympathectomy were also excluded.

J Korean Acad Rehabil Med. 2000 Apr;24(2):193-199. Korean.


Comparison of Catecholamine Levels in Hemiplegic Patients with and without Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy.

Kim EG, Kim YG, Byun SJ, Kim HS, Ahn KH.

Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Kyung Hee University College of Medicine.
Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Joongmoon College of Medicine.
Department of Neurology, Kyung Hee University College of Medicine.

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether the cause of sympathetic dysfunction is due to increased regional sympathetic outflow or receptor supersensitivity to circulating catecholamines in the pathogenesis of reflex sympathetic dystrophy in hemiplegia. METHOD: Ten hemiplegic patients with reflex sympathetic dystrophy were instructed to refrain from smoking or using caffeine and alcohol, and medications that influence catecholamine metabolism were witheld for 24 hours before blood sampling. Patients with cardiovascular disease, diabetes or abnormal liver and renal function tests were excluded from the study. Patients with a history of sympathectomy were also excluded.