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 19, 2008

Pattern of plasma levels of catecholamines in familial dysautonomia

F. B. Axelrod1 Contact Information, D. S. Goldstein2, C. Holmes2, D. Berlin3 and I. J. Kopin2

(1) Departments of Pediatrics and Neurology, New York University Medical Center, 530 First Avenue, Suite 3A, 10016 New York, NY, USA
(2) Clinical Neuroscience Branch, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, National Institutes of Health, 20892 Bethesda, MD, USA
(3) Department of Pediatrics, New York University Medical Center, 10016 New York, NY, USA

Received: 20 November 1995 Accepted: 12 April 1996

Abstract This report extends previous investigations of endogenous catecholamine levels in patients with orthostatic hypotension due to familial dysautonomia (FD), to define better the neurochemical phenotype and elucidate possible pathophysiological mechanisms. Ten FD patients (age 26.1±2.6 (SEM) years) and eight control subjects (age 29.5±3.7 years) were studied. Heart rate, blood pressure and venous blood samples were obtained while supine and after 5 min in the upright position. Plasma levels of dihydroxyphenylalanine (DOPA), noradrenaline (NA), adrenaline (A), dopamine (DA), dihydroxyphenylglycol (DHPG) and dihydroxyphenylacetic acid (DOPAC) were measured. When supine, the FD group had greater NA and DOPA levels, and lower DHPG levels. Plasma NA did not increase with erect posture in FD patients. Individual FD mean blood pressures were correlated positively with plasma NA levels when supine and with plasma DA and DOPAC when upright. In FD, DOPA:DHPG ratios were above the range found in normal subjects or that reported in patients with acquired forms of dysautonomia regardless of posture, whereas DOPAC:DHPG ratios remained normal. Thus FD patients have a characteristic neurochemical pattern which probably reflects either decreased vesicular storage of catecholamines or limited oxidative deamination despite normal or increased tyrosine hydroxylation.