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

Wednesday, September 3, 2008

Long-term superior cervical sympathectomy induces mast cell hyperplasia and increases histamine and serotonin content

Nerve fibres and mast cells are often described in close morphological and functional interactions in various organs such as the dura mater. The respective roles of mast cell activation and sympathetic impairment in cluster headache and migraine attacks have been repeatedly suggested. We have thus investigated the long-term effects of sympathectomy on mast cell morphology and content in the rat dura mater.
After unilateral ganglionectomy, the histamine content increased progressively and significantly 30–60 days post-surgery in both hemi-dura, whereas the serotonin content became significantly different from that of sham only 60 days post-surgery in the ipsilateral dura. After bilateral ganglionectomy, the histamine level significantly increased in both hemi-dura 15–60 days post-surgery, whereas the serotonin level had significantly increased at 60 days post-surgery.

These results clearly demonstrate, for the first time, a long-term trophic effect of sympathetic nerve degeneration on mast cells in the dura mater.

A. Bergerot*, A. -M. Reynier-Rebuffel†, J. Callebert‡ and P. Aubineau

Copyright © 1999 IBRO. Published by Elsevier Science Ltd.