Cell body reorganization in the spinal cord after surgery to trea sweaty palms and blushing

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

Sunday, January 29, 2012

extreme case of compensatory truncal hyperhidrosis and anhidrosis over the head and neck region which led to a heatstroke

Thoracic sympathectomy is a commonly performed surgical procedure for the treatment of palmar hyperhidrosis. However, one major complication of such a procedure is compensatory truncal hyperhidrosis. We describe an extreme case of compensatory truncal hyperhidrosis and anhidrosis over the head and neck region which led to a heatstroke.
http://icvts.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2011/12/20/icvts.ivr121.abstract?sid=89a2ce71-1ea3-4573-9e63-17329e7c09cd

Monday, January 16, 2012

reduced high-frequency power after sympathetic blockade


Alternatively, reduced high-frequency power after sympathetic blockade may also be explained by diminished “accentuated antagonism,” a phenomenon described more than three decades ago (4). Heart rate response to vagal nerve stimulation is accentuated when sympathetic tone is elevated, and vice versa. Thus, cardiac sympathetic withdrawal by high spinal or epidural blockade may have resulted in diminished beat-to-beat fluctuations of R-R intervals without alteration of actual vagal nerve activity. To draw a definitive conclusion regarding the mechanism, determinations of central vagal/sympathetic outflow would be mandatory by an animal experiment.
http://www.anesthesia-analgesia.org/content/100/4/1216.2.full

Friday, January 13, 2012

bilateral sympathectomy results in marked reduction in concentration of myocardial catecholamines - this affects contractility

Science 10 April 1959:
Vol. 129. no. 3354, pp. 967 - 968
DOI: 10.1126/science.129.3354.967


WOO CHOO LEE 1 and F. E. SHIDEMAN 1
1 Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, University of Wisconsin, Madison
In cats bilateral sympathectomy or administration of reserpine results in a marked reduction in concentration of myocardial catecholamines. The contractility of papillary muscles from such animals is significantly less than that of muscles from untreated animals. These findings demonstrate the importance of normal levels of myocardial catecholamines in the maintenance of normal cardiac contractility.

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

distinct patterns of peripheral physiological activity are associated with different emotion

The existence of specific somatic states associated with different emotions remains controversial. In this study, we investigated the profile of cardiorespiratory activity during the experience of fear, anger, sadness and happiness. ECG and respiratory activity was recorded in 43 healthy volunteers during the recall and experiential reliving of one or two potent emotional autobiographical episodes and a neutral episode. Univariate statistics indicated that the four emotions differed from each other and from the neutral control condition on several linear and spectral indices of cardiorespiratory activity. Dependent variables were further reduced to five physiologically meaningful factors using an exploratory principal component analysis (PCA). Multivariate analyses of variance and effect size estimates calculated on those factors confirmed the differences between the four emotion conditions. A stepwise discriminant analyses predicting emotions using the PCA factors led to a classification rate of 65.3% for the four emotions (chance=25%; p=0.001) and of 72.0-83.3% for pair-wise discrimination (chance=50%; p's<0.05). These findings may be considered preliminary in view of the small sample on which the multivariate approach has been applied. However, this study emphasizes the need to better characterize the multidimensional factors involved in cardio-respiratory regulation during emotion. These results are consistent with the notion that distinct patterns of peripheral physiological activity are associated with different emotions.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16439033

lowering of heart rate was associated with increases in cardiac mortality, risk for nonfatal MI, and heart failure

In a meta-analysis, lowering of heart rate was associated with increases in cardiac mortality, risk for nonfatal MI (Myocardial Infarction), and heart failure. — Mark S. Link, MD,  Published in Journal Watch Cardiology December 10, 2008