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

Friday, November 12, 2010

Sympathectomy induces mast cell hyperplasia

Long-term superior cervical sympathectomy induces mastcell hyperplasia and increases histamine and serotonincontent in the rat dura mater.


Neuroscience. 2000;96(1):205-13.


Mast cell hyperplasia is found in different pathologies such as chronic inflammatory

processes, fibrotic disorders, wound healing or neoplastic tissue transformation. The

functional significance of the accumulation of mast cells in these processes is largely

unknown. It is now established that bone marrow-derived mast cell progenitors

circulate in peripheral blood and subsequently migrate into the tissue where they

undergo final maturation under the influence of local microenvironmental factors.

Cytokines are of particular importance for mast cell recruitment, development, and

function. Stem cell factor (SCF) is a unique mast cell growth factor, since mast cells

disappear completely in the absence of SCF. However, several other cytokines such

as IL-3 and IL-4 have been shown to influence mast cell proliferation and function

also. This review focuses on the role of cytokines in the regulation of mast cell

hyperplasia.

Allergy and Immunology, Vol. 127, No. 2, 2002