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

link between sympathectomy and osteoclast-mediated bone resorption

Recent investigations have demonstrated a link between sympathectomy and osteoclast-mediated bone resorption. The exact nature of this link, however, is unknown, We hypothesize that substance P, a potent vasoconstrictive neuropeptide found in peripheral sensory fibers, including those innervating bone, is the mediator of this phenomenon. To test this theory, the effects of substance P on in vitro calcium release from cultured neonatal mouse calvaria were assessed. In addition, an in vivo study was conducted whereby gerbils were injected with capsaicin to eliminate substance P-containing fibers before sympathectomy with 6-hydroxydopamine. If the effects of 6-hydroxydopamine were eliminated by prior administration of capsaicin, the role of sensory nerves in sympathectomy-induced resorption would be strongly implicated.


The results indicate that substance P is capable of inducing resorption and that substance P-containing sensory nerves are required for the induction of resorption after sympathectomy in the gerbil.

Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg November 1, 1995 vol. 113 no. 5 569-581