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

Saturday, March 24, 2012

'Fit and healthy' woman died after operation to cure heavy sweating

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1193315/Woman-died-operation-stop-sweating-much.html

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

compensatory sweating was perceived in 56% of the adults and all of the children, or CS was lower in children - illustrations of typical contradictions about effects of ETS

compensatory sweating was perceived in 56% of the adults and all of the children. With the compensatory sweating, the effect on the life was severe in children and the patient's satisfaction was 50-60%, showing a large difference from the satisfaction of the adult patients at nearly 100%. As for other complications, neuralgia was recognized in 9% of the adults, but not in the children, and the crisis of perceptual disorder, hemorrhage and Horner's syndrome did not occur in both the adults and children. The compensatory sweating in the child patients was more remarkable than in the adult patients and the postoperative satisfaction was low, and it seems better to perform thoracoscopic sympathic blockade after the adolescence.
http://sciencelinks.jp/j-east/article/200513/000020051305A0251361.php

Do children tolerate thoracoscopic sympathectomy better than adults? CS appeared within 6 months postoperatively in 81.8% of all the patients but significantly less in children
(69.8%) compared to the others (88.5%; P < 0.001). CS increased with time in 12% of the participants, but decreased in 20.8% of the children versus 10.5% of the others (P = 0.034), usually within the first two postoperative years. The severity of the CS was also lower in children: it was absent or mild in 54.3% of the children versus 38.0% of the others, and moderate or severe in 45.7 versus 62%, respectively (P = 0.004). Fifty-one percent of the participants claimed that their quality of life decreased moderately or severely as a result of CS, but only one-third of them (7.9% children vs. 22.4% others, P = 0.001) would not have undergone the operation in retrospect.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17999068

hypoaesthesia in the bilateral axillar region after endoscopic thoracic sympathectomy for palmar hyperhidrosis

http://sciencelinks.jp/j-east/article/199920/000019992099A0655152.php

Monday, March 19, 2012

Heart Rate Variability before and after the Endoscopic Transthoracic Sympathectomy in Hyperhidrosis

The etiology of primary hyperhidrosis has been speculated as "unknown" hyperactivity of the sympathetic nervous system. In our clinic, we performed endoscopic transthoracic sympathectomy(ETS) for the treatment of hyperhidrosis. In this study, we studied the cardiac autonomic nervous function using heart rate variability(HRV) before and after ETS in 70 patients with hyperhidrosis, and compared with normal control. Before ETS, high frequency(HF) power was lower in hyperhidrosis than control group, however, there was no significant difference in LF/HF. After ETS, LF/HF decreased by 31%, and lower than control. No Severe cpomplications were occurred by ETS. In conclusion, on the cardiac autonomic nervous tone, hyperhidrosis patients had the relative dominance of the sympathetic nervous tone by suppression of the parasympathetic nervous tone. After ETS, the sympathetic nervous tone was suppressed. Clinical symptoms in hyperhidrosis patients were impoved by ETS. Although ETS affected the cardiac autonomic nervous tone, it was useful and safety method for hyperhidrosis.
http://sciencelinks.jp/j-east/article/200002/000020000299A0930354.php