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 4, 2009

From a website set up by one of the ETS patients

A team of researchers at the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) considers sympathectomy to be a neurocardiologic disorder. Led by senior investigator David Goldstein, M.D. Ph.D., they have thusfar studied at least four sympathectomy patients, and have shown that the surgery causes what Goldstein terms "surgically induced autonomic failure".

I participated in the study in November, 2004. For five days I underwent a battery of tests, including PET scans, drug tests, sweat tests, a tilt-table test, EKG, and a lumbar puncture (spinal tap). Conclusions:

1. Partial cardiac denervation as a result of bilateral thoracic sympathectomies.

2. Complete absence of blood vessel constriction in the arms, as expected in thoracic sympathectomy.

3. Complete loss of sympathetic innervation to the thyroid.

4. Abnormal catecholamine levels in the spinal fluid.

Bear in mind that these researchers are only looking at a few of the many aspects of ETS dysfunction.

http://www.truthaboutets.com/Pages/NIH.html


Cardiac arrest as a major complication of bilateral cervico-dorsal sympathectomy

We present a case of a patient who suffered from a 43 s asystolic cardiac arrest the night following a second contralateral thoracoscopic T2–T3 sympathectomy for severe axillary and truncal hyperhidrosis. The cardiovascular effects of cervico-dorsal sympathectomy will be reviewed. Evaluation required to prevent such a serious cardiac complication will also be discussed.

Interact CardioVasc Thorac Surg 2009;8:238-239. doi:10.1510/icvts.2008.188011
© 2009 European Association of Cardio-Thoracic Surgery


http://icvts.ctsnetjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/8/2/238