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, February 14, 2014

Surgical sympathectomy is rarely performed and its use remains controversial

Although improved in some, persistent or recurrent symptoms were present in all patients after six months postoperatively. Increased sensitivity of digital vessels to circulating catecholamines, nerve fiber regeneration or incomplete sympathectomy have been postulated to lead to recurrence. Five patients developed Horner's syndrome postoperatively. A portion of the stellate ganglion was intentionally resected in 3 of the 5 patients.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8370999