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

Spinal cord infarction occurring during thoraco-lumbar sympathectomy
J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry 1963;26:418-421 doi:10.1136/jnnp.26.5.418

Saturday, May 14, 2011

In 70 % compensatory sweating severe, recurrence rates were 15% and 19% at 1 and 2 years after surgery

In T2 and T3 resection, all patients experienced Compensatory Sweating and over 70% of the patients felt it was severe. Even in T2 resection, 90% of patients experienced CS and in 50% of these it was severe. High rates of CS are reported in Asian countries with hot and humid climates.

In T2 resection, recurrence rates were 15% and 19% at 1 and 2 years after surgery. It was not rare for a patient to experience recurrence more than 3 years after surgery.
Motoki Yano, MD, PhD and Yoshitaka Fujii, MD, PhD
Journal Home
Volume 138, Issue 1, Pages 40-45 (July 2005)

Friday, May 13, 2011

a significant impairment of the heart rate to workload relationship was consistently observed following sympathectomy

Several reports also demonstrate significantly lower heart rate increases during exercise in subjects who have undergone bilateral ISS [912] compared to pre-surgical levels. In spite of this high occurrence, recent reviews on the usual collateral effects of thoracic sympathectomy still do not include these possible cardiac consequences [6].
The aim of the present prospective study was to confirm that
a significant impairment of the heart rate to workload relationship was consistently observed following unilateral and/or bilateral surgery.
Eur J Cardiothorac Surg 2001;20:1095-1100
http://ejcts.ctsnetjournals.org/cgi/content/full/20/6/1095

Thursday, May 12, 2011

slowing of the heart rate usually occurs on the second to fourth day after sympathectomy

The rate fell to a level between 40 and 6o per minute, the maximal slowing usually occurring on the second to fourth day after operation. Consistent slowing of the rate was not observed after a unilateral thoracic sympathectomy of either side. While there was some recovery from the maximum brady-
cardia with the passage of time in most patients, relatively slow resting cardiac rates and failure of tachycardia to develop with postural hypotension or exercise persisted in all patients.



Skoog's12 work has shown that there are marked differences in the number and precise location of the accessory ganglion cells in the cervical region in different patients and on the two sides in the same patient.

Even when a single midthoracic paravertebral ganglion is left in place in an otherwise total sympathectomy the thoracic dermatome supplied by the ganglion appears for several days or weeks to be sympathectomized also. Then, sweating begins to appear, and it increases gradually in amount until the skin of that dermatome may be dripping. This phenomenon more than any other meets the
objection of those who maintain that if residual pathways do exist, the evidence of their presence should be manifest immediately after operation.
Annals of Surgery, 1949 October
Volume 130 Number 4