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

Monday, November 23, 2009

sympathectomy-induced increases in choroidal thickness, vascular luminal area and large venules and large arterioles

Sympathetic denervation for 6 weeks resulted in increased choroidal thickness, vascular luminal area, numbers of large venules and large arterioles, and capillaries in the outer nuclear layer. Capsaicin pretreatment prevented sympathectomy-induced increases in choroidal thickness, vascular luminal area and large venules and large arterioles, whereas pterygopalatine ganglionectomy was without effect."
Biotech Week. Atlanta: Jan 21, 2004. pg. 396