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

Thursday, December 10, 2009

Compensatory sweating occurred in 87% of the patients - serious in 36% and incapacitating in 6%

Ann Thorac Surg. 2004 Nov;78(5):1801-7.

The rates of compensatory sweating and gustatory sweating were 93.5% and 49.4%, respectively

Surgical Endoscopy
Volume 23, Number 7 / July, 2009

Patients decide in what form the surgery should be performed!

The 25 patients with palmar hyperhidrosis who insisted on receiving ETS of T4 experienced no compensatory hyperhidrosis. Of the 54 patients with facial blushing who received ESB of T2, 23 experienced compensatory hyperhidrosis.
http://www.springerlink.com/content/j6k17332rhqjv663/

90 % of patients experienced severe compensatory sweating

Postsurgery, severe compensatory sweating was experienced in 90% of patients (P < 0.0001). The sites of
compensatory sweating were the back (75%), abdomen (51%), feet (23%), groin and thigh (13%), chest (13%), andaxillae (8%). Transient whole-body sweating for no apparent reason was experienced in 30% of patients.

Thirty-seven patients (11%) regretted having undergone the surgical procedure.

Main outcome measures included the incidence of dry hands, compensatory sweating, chest pain, upper-limb muscle weakness, shortness of breath, and gustatory phenomena;

Surg Laparosc Endosc Percutan Tech. 2000 Aug;10(4):226-9.

Gustatory sweating 56 %, recurrence rate 38% after Sympathectomy

Gustatory sweating in the neck was reported by nine patients (56%), which usually occurred in response to
hot or spicey foods.
The symptoms are not troublesome for most patients, but in severe cases furhter surgery might be required.
Six patients (38%/) also had mild recurrent sweating of the hands, especially in response to either extreme heat,
anxiety or food.
A return of sweating in the hands is common occurrence in patients followed up for sufficient length of time.

Annals of the Royal College of Surgeons of England (1989) vol. 7.1

Results support our hypothesis that blockade of the sympathetic nervous system substantially degrades ligament

Journal of Applied Physiology
2004, vol. 96, no2, pp. 711-718 [8 page(s) (article)] (44 ref.)