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, March 16, 2011

the Kuntz nerve played no part in the success or failure of ETS surgery

If you research the topic of ETS, you will come across various claims and counter-claims about the importance or otherwise of the Kuntz nerve. The Kuntz nerve is a small nerve fibre sometimes seen on the second rib not far from the main sympathetic chain. Its function is not known in humans. Some web-sites on ETS claim success rates of up to 100% for facial blushing because they search for and destroy the Kuntz nerve(s). These same people also claim to be able to correct failed ETS operations by reoperating and destroying the Kuntz nerve.
At the meeting of the International Society for Sympathetic Surgery in Germany, May 2003, attended by a majority of the world’s experts in ETS surgery (including us), all but one of the surgeons present were of the opinion that the Kuntz nerve played no part in the success or failure of ETS surgery for facial blushing. We share this majority opinion.
www.lapsurgeryaustralia.com.au