Abstract
The recent treatment of hypertension by types of sympathetic surgery has created a new interest in the extent and duration of the vascular relaxation following sympathetic ganglionectomy. There has been little experimental study of the blood pressure of completely sympathectomized animals over a long period of time. Bradford Cannon 1 reported by cuff sphygmomanometer a moderate temporary fall in blood pressure immediately after complete sympathetic ganglionectomy with a final return to normal, but the time interval is not stated.
Further investigation of this problem has been made upon 15 dogs, 5 of them controls. The right thoracic chain was removed first, the left next, and the abdominal chains last at intervals of 10 days to a month. Dummy operations were done in the same order for controls. Blood pressures were measured every few days following each operation and at longer intervals later by the arterial puncture method.
The 5 control animals, 2 of which were submitted to dummy operations, have shown during intervals of from 199 to 215 days no significant change in their Mood pressures. Ten dogs were put through the 3 stage synipathectoniy in from 30 to 75 days. They uniformly showed no major blood pressure alteration after the first operation, a marked reduction after the second, and little additional reduction after the third. The first 4 were sacrificed after about a month of reduced blood pressure and no remnants of sympathetic chain were found. The next 6 were kept over a longer period of time and a gradual blood pressure restoration was noticed that was complete in 4 after 94 to 225 days and partial in 2 after 110 and 145 days. These dogs will be observed for a longer time.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.