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

Friday, August 31, 2012

Surgical treatment for hyperhidrosis causes hyperhidrosis...


Localised hyperhidrosis may also be due to:
Stroke
Spinal nerve damage
Peripheral nerve damage
Surgical sympathectomy
Neuropathy
Brain tumour
Chronic anxiety disorder
http://www.dermnet.org.nz/hair-nails-sweat/hyperhidrosis.html

Sympathectomy to treat the urge to smoke


Lipov, Eugene (Chicago, IL, US)  treating addiction with disruption of the sympathetic chain.

Complications of surgical (Thoracic and Lumbar) Sympathectomy


Post-sympathectomy neuralgia - pain overlying the scapula
Compensatory sweating - involving the lover back or face
Pneumothorax
Bleeding due to azygos vein or intercostal artery injury
Winged scapula due to long thoracic nerve injury (p. 517)

Mastery of Vascular and Endovascular Surgery
Gerald B. Zelenock, Thomas S. Huber, Louis M. Messina, Alan B. Lumsden, Gregory L. Moneta
Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, 15/12/2005 - 900 pages

Wednesday, August 29, 2012

The custom of a majority is no guarantee of safety and is seldom a guide to best medical practice.

Cameron`s claim that there has been only one death attributable to synchronous bilateral thoracoscopic sympathectomy is implausible. Surgeons and anaesthetists are reticent in publicizing such events and Civil Law Reports of settled cases are an inadequate measure of the current running total. The custom of a majority is no guarantee of safety and is seldom a guide to best medical practice.
Jack Collin,
Consultant Surgeon
Oxford
http://www.bmj.com/content/320/7244/1221?tab=responses