Long-term sympathectomy induces sensory and parasympathetic fibres sprouting, and mast cell activation in the rat dura mater

Bergerot, A; Aubineau, P; (1998) Long-term sympathectomy induces sensory and parasympathetic fibres sprouting, and mast cell activation in the rat dura mater. EUR J NEUROSCI , 10 79 - 79.

http://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/1330488/

Lewis rats are much more likely to develop autoimmune disorders after sympathectomy

Lewis rats are much more likely to develop autoimmune disorders after sympathectomy
(Dimitrova and Felten, 1995). This finding suggests that if sympathetic regulation were impaired in a
genetically predisposed individual, an autoimmune disease might develop.
Betrayal by the Brain: The Neurologic Basis of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Fibromyalgia Syndrome and Related Neural Network Disorders
by Jay A. Goldstein

published by The Haworth Medical Press, 1996

significant change after sympathectomy: reduced sympathetic and increased vagal tone

The HRV analysis showed a significant change of indices reflecting sympatho-vagal balance indicating significantly reduced sympathetic (LF) and increased vagal (HF, rMSSD) tone. These changes still persisted after 2 years. Global HRV increased over time with significant elevation of SDANN after 2 years. QT dispersion was significantly reduced 1 month after surgery and the dispersion was further diminished 2 years later.
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0167527399001011

"sympathectomy is a form of sensory neurectomy" (p.1500)

Bonica's Management of Pain

Scott Fishman, Jane Ballantyne, James P. Rathmell

Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, 2010 - Medical - 1661 pages

more than 75% of the patients evolved with an improvement in facial hyperhidrosis - nonsurgical treatment works, just don't ask the surgeons

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21738960

sympathectomized arteries become more susceptible to lipid accumulation

Combined effect of cholesterol feeding and sympathectomy on the lipid content in rabbit aortas

Atherosclerosis

Volume 37, Issue 4, December 1980, Pages 521–528

Decreased HRV is predictive of adverse cardiovascular outcomes in a variety of disease states

Water immersion-induced skin wrinkling (WISW) is dependent on intact peripheral sympathetic function. WISW was hypothesized to reflect autonomic function in subjects with- out peripheral neuropathy. We prospectively studied 70 healthy subjects (aged 31 88 years, 63% females) without cardiovascular risk factors or neurological disease. All sub- jects underwent short-term heart rate variability (HRV) stud- ies. Time and frequency domain variables were derived in- cluding the HRV index. WISW was graded using a previously validated scale of 1–4 of which 18.6% of subjects exhibited grade 1 (minimal) WISW and 35.7% had grade 2 WISW. On multivariate analysis using the HRV index, WISW was inde- pendently related to height and the HRV index. We conclude that WISW is related to central autonomic function.

Although the mechanism is not fully understood, WISW is felt to be caused by passive diffusion of water across the stratum corneum into the sweat ducts, which in turn alters electrolyte balance, decreases membrane stabilization, increases sympathetic neural firing and stimulates vasoconstriction [1–3, 8].WISW is decreased in diabetic patients and in patients after cervical sympathectomy [4, 9].

Heart rate variability (HRV) is the beat-to-beat variation in cardiac cycle length due to autonomic influence on the sinus node. Decreased HRV is predictive of adverse cardiovascular outcomes in a variety of disease states[5]. The influence of the central nervous system activity on autonomic function suggests that HRV may be a useful prognostic indicator in patients with cerebrovascular events [6].

Cardiology 2010;116:247–250 DOI: 10.1159/000316043

Received: May 10, 2010

Accepted after revision: May 28, 2010 Published online: August 18, 2010

In the Search for the Treatment of Compensatory Sweating

Removal of the clips from the sympathetic trunk does not provide resolution of compensatory sweating in 1 year of observation. T6-9 block does not provide remedy for compensatory hyperhidrosis. Regional abdomino-lumbar iontophoresis seems to be very promising, but further research and followup are mandatory.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3458267/

Is sympathectomy (ETS) safe and effective?

Well, it depends on who you ask.

We already know what the surgeons who offer the surgery have to say about it, as most of us was conned into having the surgery. We also know what these surgeons have to say about non-surgical options (ineffective, tedious, time-consuming, expensive, not permanent, resulting in disabling side-effects, very painful, useless - on one website patients are told that application of BOTOX requires general anaesthesia, just to scare them off that one... : http://archive.is/lSWd0 ). The question is answered very differently when you ask a medical professional who offers these non-surgical treatment options. Their advice and their version of FACTS always depends on the treatment and technique they have on offer.

A very simple exercise: print out the texts from few of these websites and offer it to someone to read. Then let them guess what they think which treatment the medical professional is siding with, that is: which treatment is being offered and advertised by them.

Here is a sample. You will most certainly detect that this medical professional is NOT offering ETS, as he selected different FACTS about the procedure and it's results.

http://www.lasertreatmentclinics.co.uk/Hyperhidrosis_Endoscopic_Sympathectomy/

and because you can never be safe enough, here is the archived version:

http://archive.is/ei7ft

from:

http://etsandreversals.yuku.com/topic/5658/Is-sympathectomy-safe-and-effective

Natural bodily functioning does not include “purely autonomic” or “purely somatic” responses, just as it does not include ‘purely sympathetic” or “purely parasympathetic” responses

Langley initially expected to find afferent cell bodies in autonomic ganglia, with projections to other ganglia. He believed that activation of these “autonomic afferents” should lead to purely autonomic responses. However Langley’s own careful work demonstrated that there were no such neurons.

The fundamentally important point is that integrative processes responsible for the organization of visceral function occur principally within the central nervous system (brain and/or spinal cord). Both somatic and visceral afferents result in complex, brain mediated, responses that include somatic and visceral function. Autonomic motor activity can be generated by both somatic and visceral inputs to the CNS, and visceral inputs to the CNS initiate responses that are both somatic and autonomic. Natural bodily functioning does not include “purely autonomic” or “purely somatic” responses, just as it does not include ‘purely sympathetic” or “purely parasympathetic” responses.

Bill Blessing and Ian Gibbins (2008), Scholarpedia, 3(7):2787.

revision #46085 [link to/cite this article]

Curator: Dr. Bill Blessing, Centre for Neuroscience, Flinders University, Adelaide, AUSTRALIA

there are three main conditions which could impair the autonomy of a patient's medical decision: insufficient information, irrational beliefs/desires, and influence of different framing effects

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1467-8519.2012.01973.x/abstract

Postsympathectomy pain of such severity that parenteral narcotics afforded no relief

Fifty-six consecutive patients who subsequently underwent ninety-six lumbar sympathectomies were studied prospectively with regard to the development of postoperative pain. Pain after operation was observed in thirty-four extremities by twenty-five of the patients (35 per cent). It began abruptly an average of twelve days after operation and was often accentuated nocturnally. The pain was almost always described as a deep, dull ache and persisted two to three weeks before spontaneously remitting. Postsympathectomy pain of such severity that parenteral narcotics afforded no relief developed in two of these fifty-six patients and in nine additional patients. Treatment with carbamazepine produced dramatic reduction in the intensity of pain in seven of these nine patients within twenty-four hours after the institution of therapy. Two patients were given intravenous diphenylhydantoin and both experienced immediate relief of pain. The mechanisms of the syndrome and of the action of these drugs are uncertain.

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0002961074902384

Systemic therapy with glycopyrrolate or clonidine can be effective for HH. Nearly two-thirds responded to therapy, and less than a quarter had treatment-limiting adverse effects, all of which were self-limited and nonserious

2012 Mar;66(3):387-92. doi: 10.1016/j.jaad.2011.01.023. Epub 2011 Aug 4.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21820204

A randomized placebo-controlled trial of oxybutynin for the initial treatment of palmar and axillary hyperhidrosis

Palmar and axillary hyperhidrosis improved in >70% of the patients, and 47.8% of those presented great improvement. Plantar hyperhidrosis improved in >90% of the patients. Most patients (65.2%) showed improvements in their quality of life. The side effects were minor, with dry mouth being the most frequent (47.8%).

Journal of Vascular Surgery, Volume 55, Issue 6, June 2012, Pages 1696-1700

Long-term efficiency? 40% affirmed they would ask for the operation if it were to be redone, 53% recurrence

At an average 12 years after surgery, 47% of patients were satisfied with the treatment results, 40% were disappointed.
53% complaining about a decent to moderate recurrence of hand sweating and compensatory and gustatory sweating were observed in 9 (60%) and 5 (33%) patients, respectively.

Interact CardioVasc Thorac Surg

(2009) 8 (1): 54-57.

Only 56% would recommend thoracoscopic sympathectomy to others with hyperhydrosis

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21539945

"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

Neuralgia due to sympathectomy

Depending on the skill of the surgeon and difficulty encountered performing various intraoperative maneuvers, the incidence of complications following sympathectomy should be the same as that following any other extraperitoneal or extrapleural operation. However, a frequent complication following sympathectomy, and one which is apparently unrelated to operative technique, is that of postsympathectomy neuralgia.

This neuralgia is characterized by aching thigh pain after lumbar sympathectomy or aching shoulder and arm pain after cervical sympathectomy. The pain is intense in severity, sudden in onset and disappearance, and not related to any major neurologic manifestations.

Recently we have reviewed the files of the Vascular Surgical Service at the West Roxbury Veteran's Hospital and the literature on this condition. This report is a presentation of our findings.

Incidence Pain following sympathectomy has been described as "an all too common complaint."⁸ Reports have varied in incidence from 2.1% to "practically every case."

http://archsurg.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=560162

Autonomic neuropathy in the skin following sympathectomy

In diabetics with the anhidrotic syndrome, autonomic nerve fibres were studied in skin biopsies using argentic techniques and light microscopy. The Minor test was used to differentiate normal from anhidrotic skin areas. In the anhidrotic areas, histology of the nerve fibres showed beading, spindle-shaped thickening and fragmentation adjacent to the sweat glands. These changes were similar to those observed in two patients who had previously undergone lumbar sympathectomy. No abnormalities of the sympathetic nerve endings could be found in biopsies taken from normal areas of the forearm of the same patients. We conclude that the diabetic anhidrotic syndrome, a form of diabetic autonomic neuropathy, is due to a lesion of the sympathetic nerve supply to the skin.

I. Faerman¹, E. Faccio³, I. Calb², J. Razumny¹, N. Franco², A. Dominguez² and H. A. Podestá¹

Diabetologia

Volume 22, Number 2 / February, 1982

Endoscopic sympathectomy is not minimally invasive

The term ‘‘minimally invasive surgery’’ was initially applied to coelioscopic procedures such as laparoscopic cholecystectomy and hernia repair, thoracoscopic sympathectomy, and arthroscopy, but has since been abandoned, because doing the same operation through a smaller incision is not necessarily less invasive. The term ‘‘minimally invasive parathyroidectomy’’ does not fully convey the nature of the techniques, and, as previously debated in the wider ﬁeld of minimal-access surgery, carries connotations of increased safety that are not necessarily supported by the existing data [12].

Surg Clin N Am 84 (2004) 717–734

F. Fausto Palazzo, MS, FRCS(Gen),
Leigh W. Delbridge, MD, FACS*

Department of Surgery, Royal North Shore Hospital, Sydney 2065, NSW, Australia

Endoscopic thoracic sympathectomy remains a fairly controversial procedure

Studies by ETS surgeons have claimed an initial satisfaction rate around 85-95% with at least 2%-19% regretting the surgery and up to 51% of the patients complaining about decreased quality of life. However, at least one study shows a satisfaction rate as low as 28.6.

Most patients report various adverse reactions as a result of the surgery. And, whilst the results of endoscopic thoracic sympathectomy might appear moderately successful in treating hyperhidrosis, there is a high risk of complications.

Along with the normal side effects of surgery, such as pain, bleeding and bruising, the most frequent post surgical complication is ‘compensatory hyperhidrosis’ – where excessive sweating in seen another part of the body as a result, most commonly the lower back or upper thighs.

There is also the potential surgical complication of a pneumothorax, where air becomes trapped between the lung and the internal chest wall, making breathing difficult and painful. Whilst this can be a life-threatening condition, if not too large it generally resolves over time with out further surgical intervention.

Other fairly common complications of endoscopic thoracic sympathectomy include:

Rhinitis - inflammation of the nose and

Gustatory sweating - sweating on the face and neck after eating food,

Rarer complications of endoscopic thoracic sympathectomy as a result of nerve damage include:

Damage to the phrentic nerve. – Phrentic nerve damage can lead to long term shortness of breath, repair of the nerve during the surgery is also possible in some cases..

Horner’s syndrome, - a condition that causes drooping of the eyelids.

Endoscopic thoracic sympathectomy remains a fairly controversial procedure; with advocates claiming high success rates and minimal complications when performed correctly, whilst opponents report huge variation in post operation satisfaction levels and poor consistency in the surgical procedure as a result of anatomical variations in the sympathetic nerve network between patients and personal preferences between doctors.

http://www.lasertreatmentclinics.co.uk/Hyperhidrosis_Endoscopic_Sympathectomy/

This is how "Australia’s leading source for trustworthy medical information" describes sympathectomy

"Sympathectomy is a procedure that is used to treat neuropathic pain. It interrupts the sympathetic nervous system either temporarily or permanently."

http://www.virtualmedicalcentre.com/medical-dictionary/alpha/s

Australia’s leading source for trustworthy medical information written by health professionals.

Please be aware that we do not give advice on your individual medical condition,
if you want advice please see your treating physician.

progressive hemifacial atrophy following sympathectomy for hyperhidrosis

Some authors consider the disease a variant of mor- phea because the histologic changes are identical to deep scleroderma.2 The possible etiologies include sympathetic denervation, trauma, vascular malformations, immunologic abnormality, heredi- tary disease, or infection by a slow virus.3 To our knowledge, this is the first report of a young patient with a possible association between Parry-Romberg syndrome and thoracoscopic sympathectomy.

Theoretically, thoracoscopic sympathectomy may cause 2 of the aforementioned etiologies of Parry- Romberg syndrome: sympathetic denervation and trauma. Thoracoscopic sympathectomy is a surgical technique for the treatment of palmar hyperhidrosis.

The operation ablates the upper thoracic sympa- thetic nerve ganglions responsible for nerve stimu- lation of the sweat glands of the upper limbs. The most significant complication is Horner’s syn- drome, which results from injury to the stellate sympathetic ganglion.7 In a summary of sympa- thectomies in 67 children and adolescents, compli- cations included Horner’s syndrome in 1 patient (1%) and varying degrees of compensatory sweat- ing in 30 patients (45%).8 Despite the evidence from animal studies that sympathectomy can result in facial atrophy, to our knowledge, there were no previous reports of such an association in humans.

Cutis. 2004;73:343-344, 346.

Crime Inc.: Sweaty Palm Surgery

RSD due to nerve injury

According to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), RSD is "a chronic pain condition that is believed to be the result of dysfunction in the central or peripheral nervous systems." According to MedicineNet, RSD involves "irritation and abnormal excitation of nervous tissue, leading to abnormal impulses along nerves that affect blood vessels and skin."

Animal studies indicate that norepinephrine, a catecholamine released from sympathetic nerves, acquires the capacity to activate pain pathways after tissue or nerve injury, resulting in RSD. Another theory suggests that RSD, which follows an injury, is caused by triggering an immune response and symptoms associated with inflammation (redness, warmth, swelling). RSD is not thought to have a single cause, but rather multiple causes producing similar symptoms.

http://arthritis.about.com/od/rsd/a/rsd.htm

Limited sympathectomy does not reduce postoperative compensatory sweating

Endoscopic transthoracic for upper limb hyperhidrosis:

PLOS Medicine: Why Most Published Research Findings Are False

PLOS Medicine: Why Most Published Research Findings Are False: "There is increasing concern that most current published research findings are false. The probability that a research claim is true may depend on study power and bias, the number of other studies on the same question, and, importantly, the ratio of true to no relationships among the relationships probed in each scientific field. In this framework, a research finding is less likely to be true when the studies conducted in a field are smaller; when effect sizes are smaller; when there is a greater number and lesser preselection of tested relationships; where there is greater flexibility in designs, definitions, outcomes, and analytical modes; when there is greater financial and other interest and prejudice; and when more teams are involved in a scientific field in chase of statistical significance. Simulations show that for most study designs and settings, it is more likely for a research claim to be false than true. Moreover, for many current scientific fields, claimed research findings may often be simply accurate measures of the prevailing bias. In this essay, I discuss the implications of these problems for the conduct and interpretation of research."

After sympathectomy in rats there is an increase in osteoclast-mediated bone resorption as well as an increase in the number of osteoclasts on the sympathectomized side

Paper: Osteoclastic Activation In Periapical Lesions After NPY Knockout (IADR/AADR/CADR 87th General Session and Exhibition (April 1-4, 2009)): "After sympathectomy in rats there is an increase in osteoclast-mediated bone resorption as well as an increase in the number of osteoclasts on the sympathectomized side compared to the control. These findings suggest an inhibitory effect of the SNS on bone resorption via osteoclasts. Our objective was to determine if an SNS mediator, neuropeptide Y (NPY), affects osteoclastic activity after pulpal exposure."

Two-stage unilateral versus one-stage bilateral single-port sympathectomy for palmar and axillary hyperhidrosis

Compensatory sweating occurred in 25 (19%) patients of the one-stage group and in 6 (4%) of the two-stage group (P = 0.0001). No patients developed Horner’s syndrome.
CONCLUSIONS: Both two-stage unilateral and one-stage bilateral single-port video-assisted thoracoscopic sympathectomies are effective, safe and minimally invasive procedures. Two-stage unilateral sympathectomy can be performed with a lower occurrence of compensatory sweating, improving permanently the quality of life in patients with palmar and axillary hyperhidrosis.
http://icvts.oxfordjournals.org/content/16/6/834.full.pdf+html

sympathectomy and avoidance learning

PsycNET - Option to Buy: "Chemical sympathectomy and avoidance learning in the rat.
By Di Giusto, E. L.; King, M. G.
Journal of Comparative and Physiological Psychology, Vol 81(3), Dec 1972, 491-500.
Abstract
Reports results of 5 experiments with male Wistar rats (N = 108). Depletion of peripheral sympathetic noradrenaline induced by administration of 6-hydroxydopamine, ip, led to significant decrements in escape and avoidance responding when the required response was difficult, but not when it was relatively easy to acquire. Results are similar to previous findings obtained with adrenal-demedullated Ss. Findings clarify the role of the sympathetic nervous system in the motivation of behavior elicited by aversive stimulation. Implications for 2-process theory and the "Kamin effect," or "learned helplessness," are discussed. (40 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)"

Blushing and Facial Blushing Causes, Treatment, Diagnosis

Blushing and Facial Blushing Causes, Treatment, Diagnosis: "The treatment of facial blushing and or facial sweating is a controversial subject. The uncontrolled and embarrassing situation of facial sweating and blushing was thought to be easily treated with ETS. This came about when ETS was done patients with sweaty hands. Among those patients who also suffered from facial blushing and/or facial sweating the results were also successful at reducing facial blushing and/or sweating. However over the years two observations were made when this operation was applied only patients with facial blushing and or facial sweating. Percentage wise these patients developed a higher rate of severe compensatory sweating. Also these patients experienced a higher degree of dissatisfaction due to the side effects. Side effects such as facial flushed feelings, loss of stamina, facial skin sensitivity, increased amount of fatigue and others led Dr. Reisfeld to the decision not to perm ETS when only facial blushing or facial sweating were involved. The clinical experience that was accumulated over the last several years is what has allowed Dr. Reisfeld to reach this assessment."

Hyperhidrosis (excessive sweating). DermNet NZ

Hyperhidrosis (excessive sweating). DermNet NZ: "Localised hyperhidrosis may also be due to:

Stroke
Spinal damage
Peripheral damage
Surgical sympathectomy
Neuropathy
Brain tumour
Chronic anxiety disorder"

Right sympathectomy was associated with a 372% increase in PI (p < 0.0001), and left sympathectomy with a 316% increase in PI

Oximetry-derived perfusion index for intraop... [Ann Thorac Surg. 2005] - PubMed - NCBI: "Baseline oximetric waveforms were adequate in all subjects. Right was associated with a 372% increase in PI (p < 0.0001), and left with a 316% increase in PI (p < 0.029). This occurred as early as 1 minute after transection of the sympathetic chain. The PI in the reference probes as well as the hemodynamics remained constant."

Severity of compensatory sweating after thor... [Ann Thorac Surg. 2004] - PubMed - NCBI

Severity of compensatory sweating after thor... [Ann Thorac Surg. 2004] - PubMed - NCBI: "Compensatory sweating occurred in 89% of patients and was so severe in 35% that they often had to change their clothes during the day. The frequency of compensatory sweating was not significantly different among the three groups, but severity was significantly higher after Th2-4 sympathectomy for axillary hyperhidrosis (p = 0.04). Gustatory sweating occurred in 38% of patients, and 16% of patients regretted the operation.
CONCLUSIONS:
Compensatory and gustatory sweating were remarkably frequent side effects after thoracoscopic sympathectomy for primary hyperhidrosis."

Impaired skin vasomotor reﬂexes have been found in patients with sympathetic dystrophies, dysautomias, post-regional sympathectomy and diabetic neuropathies

Not surprisingly, diminished vasoconstrictor responses, similar to the current ﬁndings, have been found
in patients with sympathetic dystrophies [26], dysautomias [27], post-regional sympathectomy [28] and
diabetic neuropathies [11].

Additionally, there have been a few reports of EM patients beneﬁtting from sympathectomy or neurolitic
irreversible blocks of the lumbar sympathetic ganglia [22,23], while others have found the symptoms of EM to be aggravated by such treatment [24,25], possibly as a result of denervation supersensitivity.
Clinical Science (1999) 96, 507ñ512 (Printed in Great Britain)
Roberta C. LITTLEFORD, Faisel KHAN and Jill J. F. BELCH
University Department of Medicine, Section of Vascular Medicine and Biology, Ninewells Hospital and Medical School,
Dundee DD1 9SY, Scotland, U.K.

sympathectomy interrupts neural messages that ordinarily would travel to many different organs, glands and muscles

Sympathectomy involves dissection of the main sympathetic trunk in the upper thoracic region thus interrupting neural messages that ordinarily would travel to many different organs, glands and muscles. It involves division of adrenergic, cholinergic and sensory fibers which elaborate adrenergic substances during the process of regulating visceral function.
Journal of Applied Sciences Research, 6(6): 659-664, 2010

Vascular sympathetic denervation can lead to degeneration of the smooth muscle of arteries leading to medial arterial calcification and stiffening of the arteries

Sympathetic denervation of the peripheral arterial system may occur quite early in the evolution of neuropathy and has major effects on blood flow and vascular responses and causes structural changes in the arterial wall (Edmonds 2004). Vascular sympathetic denervation can lead to degeneration of the smooth muscle of arteries leading to medial arterial calcification and stiffening of the arteries. This calcification may assume the histological characteristics of bone.

Unilateral lumbar sympathectomy in humans, both in diabetics and non-diabetics, has been show to result in medial wall calcification on the ipsilateral side (Goebel and Fuessl 1983). Unilateral sympathectomy in animals leads to excess deposition of cholesterol on the operated side and the occurrence of cholesterol sclerosis in the rabbit's aorta was accelerated by removal of the coeliac ganglion (Harrison 1938). Furthermore, in animal models, denervation of smooth muscle leads to striking pathological changes, including atrophy of muscle fibres with foci of degeneration (Kerper and Collier 1926). Arterial calcification in initiated within senescent atrophic smooth muscle (Morgan 1980).

Medial arterial calcification in the Pima Indians is significantly associated with an increased prevalence of cardiovascular mortality (Everhart et al 1988). Medial calcification may be important factor in development of peripheral vascular disease, which in diabetes shows a predilection for the distal arteries below the knee and is unexplained. Chantelau reported an association of below knee atherosclerosis to medial arterial calcification (Chantelau et al. 1995).

p. 653

Autonomic Failure: A Textbook of Clinical Disorders of the Autonomic Nervous System[Hardcover]

Christopher J. Mathias (Author), Roger Bannister (Author)

Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA; 5 edition (July 24, 2013)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0198566344
ISBN-13: 978-0198566342

"Patients report that they feel less anxious in stressful situations. Stage fright is reduced. The results are usually permanent.'"

http://neuro.templehealth.org/content/ETShyperhidrosis.htm

Sympathectomy, (ETS, VATS, ESB and many other names for the same procedure) affects emotional responses, fear responses, arousal, etc. It changes a person's ability to feel and respond to emotions. It changes drive, attention, mobilisation.
Patients sign up for a surgery to treat sweaty hands, and not 'adjustments' to their emotions and personality.

sympathectomy leads to fluctuation of vasoconstriction alternated with vasodilation in an unstable fashion (39). Following sympathectomy the involved extremity shows regional hyper - and hypothermia

"To quote Nashold, referring to sympathectomy, "Ill- advised surgery may tend to magnify the entire symptom complex"(38). Sympathectomy is aimed at achieving vasodilation. The neurovascular instability (vacillation and instability of vasoconstrictive function), leads to fluctuation of vasoconstriction alternated with vasodilation in an unstable fashion (39). Following sympathectomy the involved extremity shows regional hyper - and hypothermia in contrast, the blood flow and skin temperature on the non- sympathectomized side are significantly lower after exposure to a cold environment (39). This phenomenon may explain the reason for spread of CRPS. In the first four weeks after sympathectomy, the Laser Doppler flow study shows an increased of blood flow and hyperthermia in the extremity (40). Then, after four weeks, the skin temperature and vascular perfusion slowly decrease and a high amplitude vasomotor constriction develops reversing any beneficial effect of surgery (39). According to Bonica , "about a dozen patients with reflex sympathetic dystrophy (RSD) in whom I have carried out preoperative diagnostic sympathetic block with complete pain relief, sympathectomy produced either partial or no relief (40)"

Chronic Pain:

Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy : Prevention and Management

Hooshang Hooshmand

CRC PressINC, 1993 - Medical - 202 pages

we stopped performing sympathectomies in 1994, since we were alarmed by the complication and failure rate

Physical medicine
Russell, Alan L. Patient Care 13.2 (Feb 2002): 19.

Seven cases of enlargement of breast following sympathectomy for hyperhidrosis

The phenomenon of hyperhidrosis is a pathological state caused by unknown stimulus of the sympathetic nervous system. When a variety of conservative treatments have failed, surgery which involves the removal of some ganglia of the cervical sympathetic chain, is the treatment of choice. In the last four years we operated on 253 patients for palmar hyperhidrosis using the transaxillary approach only. Recently, a new side effect of surgery has come to our attention. This phenomenon is enlargement of the breast on the operated side. Our series show seven cases (2.4%) of women operated for palmar hyperhidrosis who manifested this phenomenon, two of them bilaterally. The enlargement of the breast was found usually by the second follow-up visit after operation when, in most cases, the patient mentioned it.Examination of the breast revealed enlargement of a few centimeters which in several patients required a change to a larger brassiere size. In both of our patients who underwent bilateral surgery, the breasts enlarged until they were equal in size. The women then did not complain further.

Enlargement of the Breast--A New Side Effect of Transaxillary Cervical Sympathectomy: Case Report Kott, Itamar;; Hauptman, Eli;; Zelkovsky, Avigdor;; Reiss, Raphael. Vascular and Endovascular Surgery 20.1 (Jan 1986): 50-54.

Sympathectomy significantly alters vascular responses

Vascular responses to warming were studied in hemiplegic patients and after sympathectomy, using venous occlusion plethysmography of foot and leg. Comparisons were made with corresponding age groups. The pattern of response was essentially unchanged in hemiplegic patients, but was altered substantially where sympathetic pathways had been interrupted.

Vasomotor Responses in the Extremities of Subjects with Various Neurologic Lesions

I. Reflex Responses to Warming

http://circ.ahajournals.org/content/15/4/518.abstract

Sympathectomy involves division of adrenergic, cholinergic and sensory fibers which elaborate adrenergic substances during the process of regulating visceral function.

G. SURGICAL SYMPATHECTOMY AND ADRENERGIC FUNCTIONPharmacol Rev March 1966 18:611-618;

Sympathectomy (ETS or ESB) can alleviate social phobia and common fears such as fear of flying, heights, open spaces, or the darkness

Is sympathectomy the new lobotomy?

"ESB may also alleviate social phobia and common fears such as fear of flying, heights, open spaces, or the darkness. In addition, it can be used to decrease trembling of the body, hands, and voice, even stuttering. It may help in alcoholism or drug withdrawal, because these are often linked with social anxiety.  Sympathetic block is a gentle and exact endoscopic procedure. It is performed as day surgery under light anesthesia."

http://www.sympatix.fi/?lang=en

The almost total absence of myelinated and amyelinated fibers following clip removal suggests that clipping method is NOT reversible (as many surgeons claim)

Ten days after clipping, all sympathetic chains displayed evident Wallerian degeneration. Twenty days after clipping, Wallerian degeneration of myelinated fibers was more widespread and also more striking. Thirty days after clipping, a very marked macrophagic reaction was visible, with multiple signs of phagocytosis of myelin debris. By 30 days post operation and 20 days after clip removal, a few residual myelin and amyelinated fibers were visible. These findings suggest that axon regeneration is not possible. CONCLUSIONS There are Wallerian degeneration and axon loss 10 days after clipping. The almost total absence of myelinated and amyelinated fibers following clip removal suggests that there was no nerve regeneration, and that therefore clipping cannot be considered a reversible technique.

Surg Endosc. 2012 May ;26 (5):1258-63 22083329

Intense pain following sympathectomy, reduced inspiratory capacity

Intrapleural analgesia after endoscopic thoracic sympathectomy.

Patrícia Gomes da Silva, Daniele Cristina Cataneo, Fernanda Leite, Erica Nishida Hasimoto, Guilherme Antonio Moreira de Barros

Postgraduate Program in Anesthesiology, Botucatu School of Medicine, UNESP, Bauru, SP, Brazil.

PURPOSE To compare analgesia traditionally used for thoracic sympathectomy to intrapleural ropivacaine injection in two different doses. METHODS Twenty-four patients were divided into three similar groups, and all of them received intravenous dipyrone. Group A received intravenous tramadol and intrapleural injection of saline solution. Group B received intrapleural injection of 0.33% ropivacaine, and Group C 0.5% ropivacaine. The following aspects were analyzed: inspiratory capacity, respiratory rate and pain. Pain was evaluated in the immediate postoperative period by means of the visual analog scale and over a one-week period. RESULTS In Groups A and B, reduced inspiratory capacity was observed in the postoperative period. In the first postoperative 12 hours, only 12.5% of the patients in Groups B and C showed intense pain as compared to 25% in Group A. In the subsequent week, only one patient in Group A showed mild pain while the remainder reported intense pain. In Group B, half of the patients showed intense pain, and in Group C, only one presented intense pain. CONCLUSION Intrapleural analgesia with ropivacaine resulted in less pain in the late postoperative period with better analgesic outcomes in higher doses, providing a better ventilatory pattern.

http://lib.bioinfo.pl/meid:154350/pmid

Brachial plexopathy is another well recognised but not much publicised side-effect of sympathectomy

Brachial plexus dysfunction (brachial plexopathy) is a form of peripheral neuropathy. It occurs when there is damage to the brachial plexus, an area on each side of the neck where nerve roots from the spinal cord split into each arm's nerves.

Damage to the brachial plexus is usually related to direct injury to the nerve, stretching injuries (including birth trauma), pressure from tumors in the area (especially from lung tumors), or damage that results from radiation therapy.

Brachial plexus dysfunction may also be associated with:

Birth defects that put pressure on the neck area
Exposure to toxins, chemicals, or drugs
General anesthesia, used during surgery
Inflammatory conditions, such as those due to a virus or immune system problem

In some cases, no cause can be identified.

Symptoms

Numbness of the shoulder, arm, or hand
Shoulder pain
Tingling, burning, pain, or abnormal sensations (location depends on the area injured)
Weakness of the shoulder, arm, hand, or wrist

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/001418.htm

cardiovascular effects, tremulousness and sweating produced by thyroid hormones can be reduced or abolished by sympathectomy

Although, plasma catecholamine levels are normal in hyperthyroidism, the cardiovascular effects, tremulousness and sweating produced by thyroid hormones can be reduced or abolished by sympathectomy. (p. 133)

Introduction To Endocrinology

ENDOCRINOLOGY CHANDRA S. NEGI

PHI Learning Pvt. Ltd., 2009 - Endocrinology - 455 pages

Trouble in the Gap: A Bioethical and Sociological Analysis of Informed Consent for High-Risk Medical Procedures - Springer

Trouble in the Gap: A Bioethical and Sociological Analysis of Informed Consent for High-Risk Medical Procedures - Springer: "we argue that “informed” consent is a process that is usually incomplete, despite trappings and assumptions that help to create the illusion of completeness."

after sympathectomy the extremity will be more apt to have disturbance of circulation and is left unprotected from fluctuation in circulation

1. Sympathectomy is analogous to the act of killing the messenger. The sympathetic nervous system has the critical job of properly controlling and preserving the circulation in different parts of the body, especially in the extremities. By paralyzing the system, the extremity will be more apt to have disturbance of circulation and is left unprotected from fluctuation in circulation.

Sympathectomy is similar to permanently removing the central heat and air-conditioning system and never replacing it because of malfunction.

Sympathectomy permanently damages the temperature regulatory system. The reason sympathectomy does not cause side effects other than ineffective control of pain as well as impotence and orthostatic hypotension is because it is invariably partial and incomplete.H. Hooshmand, M.D.: Chronic Pain

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9780849386671

Chronic Pain: Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy Prevention and Management

Hooshang Hooshmand

ISBN 10: 0849386675 / 0-8493-8667-5

ISBN 13: 9780849386671

Publisher: CRC Pr I Llc

Publication Date: 1993

Binding: Hardcover

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sympathectomy interrupts neural messages to many different organs, glands and muscles

sympathectomy affects the heart, sweating, and circulation

heart rate was significantly reduced at rest (14%), at sub-maximal exercise (12.3%), and at peak exercise (5.7%), together with a significant increase in oxygen pulse (11.8, 12.7, and 7.8%, respectively). The rate pressure product (RPP) was also significantly reduced following the surgical procedure at all three study stages, while all other physiological variables measured remained unchanged. It is suggested that thoracic-sympathetic denervation affects the heart, sweating, and circulation of the respective denervated region

Eur J Appl Physiol. 2008 Sep;104(1):79-86. Epub 2008 Jun 10.

cell body reorganization in the spinal cord after sympathectomy

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

Acquired cardiovascular disease following Sympathectomy

We found statistically significant differences (P < .05) in both time and frequency domains. Parameters that evaluate global cardiac autonomic activity (total power, SD of normal R-R intervals, SD of average normal R-R intervals) and vagal activity (rhythm corresponding to percentage of normal R-R intervals with cycle greater than 50 ms relative to previous interval, square root of mean squared differences of successive normal R-R intervals, high-frequency power, high-frequency power in normalized units) were statistically significantly increased after sympathectomy. Low-frequency power in normalized units, reflecting sympathetic activity, was statistically significantly decreased after sympathectomy. Low-/high-frequency power ratio also showed a significant decrease, indicating relative decrease in sympathetic activity and increase in vagal activity.

The Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery
Volume 137, Issue 3, March 2009, Pages 664-669

decreased conditioning-related activity in insula and amygdala after autonomic denervation

The degree to which perceptual awareness of threat stimuli and bodily states of arousal modulates neural activity associated with fear conditioning is unknown. We used functional magnetic neuroimaging (fMRI) to study healthy subjects and patients with peripheral autonomic denervation to examine how the expression of conditioning-related activity is modulated by stimulus awareness and autonomic arousal. In controls, enhanced amygdala activity was evident during conditioning to both "seen" (unmasked) and "unseen" (backward masked) stimuli, whereas insula activity was modulated by perceptual awareness of a threat stimulus. Absent peripheral autonomic arousal, in patients with autonomic denervation, was associated with decreased conditioning-related activity in insula and amygdala. The findings indicate that the expression of conditioning-related neural activity is modulated by both awareness and representations of bodily states of autonomic arousal.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11856537

LIMITED SYMPATHECTOMY DOES NOT REDUCE SEVERITY OF SIDE-EFFECTS

On univariate and multivariate analysis, the extent of denervation was not associated with the occurrence or the severity of compensatory sweating.

Compensatory sweating and temporary relief/recurrence were equally considered to be the main causes of dissatisfaction. CONCLUSION: Compensatory sweating was the most common long-term complication of thoracodorsal sympathectomy for primary hyperhidrosis. Its incidence and severity were not associated with the extent of sympathectomy.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12514588

Muliptle organ failure as a consequence of elective sympathectomy

In the post-sympathectomy patient, the abnormalsympathetic skin response may lead to peripheral vascular failureor the reduced cardiac chronotropic response may impair thebody’s capacity to compensate for shock. These may havecontributed to the rapid development of shock and severe multipleorgan dysfunction syndrome in this patient.
He had multiple organ dysfunction syndrome develop, with severerenal and hepatic failure, grade II hepatic encephalopathy,and disseminated intravascular coagulation. He responded remarkablywell to aggressive supportive measures including forced alkalinediuresis, and he was eventually discharged home after 1 month. The patient was previously a healthy, physically fit, nonsmoker.He worked as a body building trainer and led an active, sportylifestyle. The only significant medical history was that hehad received thoracic sympathectomy for axillary hyperhidrosis4 years ago at another hospital.

http://ats.ctsnetjournals.org/cgi/content/full/84/3/1025

Hemodynamic changes in vertebral and carotid arteries were observed after sympathicotomy for PH

Atelectasis is a common pulmonary complication following thoracic and upper abdominal procedures

General anesthesia and surgical manipulation lead to atelectasis by causing diaphragmatic dysfunction and diminished surfactant activity. The atelectasis is typically basilar and segmental in distribution. After induction of anesthesia, atelectasis increases from 1 to 11% of total lung volume. End-expiratory lung volume is also found to be decreased.

Postoperative atelectasis is extremely common. Lobar atelectasis is also common. The incidence and prevalence of this disorder are not well documented.

http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/296468-overview#a0104

Atelectasis occurs regularly after induction of general anesthesia, persists postoperatively, and may contribute to significant postoperative morbidity and additional health care costs. Laparoscopic surgery has been reported to be associated with an increased incidence of postoperative atelectasis.

Anesth Analg 2009; 109:1511-1516

RESPONSE TO SYMPATHETIC BLOCKADE DEPENDS ON THE DEGREE OF SYMPATHETIC TONE BEFORE THE BLOCK

Denervation of preganglionic cardiac accelerator fibres leaving the cord at T1-T5 results in minimal vasodilatory consequences. Changes however in heart rate, left ventricular function and myocardial oxygen demand may occur due to high thoracic epidural blockade and are discussed below.

The major determinant of heart rate is the balance between sympathetic and parasympathetic systems with the latter predominating. A high thoracic epidural anaesthesia (TEA) covering the cardiac segments (T1-T4) produces small but significant reductions in heart rate4-8. During cardiac sympathetic denervation, parasympathetic cardiovascular responses, including those involved in baroreflexes, may dominate.

Individual cardiovascular response to different levels of sympathetic blockade varies widely, depending on the degree of sympathetic tone before the block.
Anaesth Intensive Care 2000; 28: 620-635
B. T. VEERING*, M. J. COUSINS†
Department of Anesthesiology, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, The Netherlands and Department of Anaesthesia and
Pain Management, University of Sydney, Royal North Shore Hospital, Sydney, New South Wales

Cell body reorganization in the spinal cord after elective surgery to treat sweaty palms

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

cross-inhibitory control of various afferent in the spinal cord

In conclusion, our results suggest that cross-inhibitory control by various afferents in the spinal cord may exist in the feet as well as in the contralateral hand. The release of cross-inhibitory control by T3 sympathicotomy results in vasoconstriction and a decrease of skin temperature on the contralateral hand and the feet.

The basic neuronal network for this reciprocal organization is probably located in the spinal level (15). Therefore, the reduction in the contralateral skin temperature may be explained by cross-inhibitory control of various afferent in the spinal cord.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2722005/

Contralateral temperature changes of the finger surface during video endoscopic sympathectomy for palmar hyperhidrosis
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8832515

Denervation supersensitivity of alpha receptors following sympathecomy

There is, however, considerable risk of developing a post-sympathectomy pain syndrome that may be the result of a denervation supersensitivity of alpha receptors.
www.mc.vanderbilt.edu/.../Complex%20Regional%20Pain%20Syndrome-1...

Paradoxically it has been suggested that in some cases there may be abnormal vasoconstriction rather than the expected vasodilatation after sympathectomy.
ats.ctsnetjournals.org/cgi/content/full/84

Receptor hypersensitivity is a common problem

Because of their size and location, injuries to the sympathetic ganglia or chain is rarely indicated or performed. Receptor hypersensitivity is a common problem after significant sympathetic injury, including clammy hands, erythema, and allodynia. When sympathetic nerves regenerate, they may establish aberrant connections to sensory receptors, muscles, or other sympathetics receptors; this may lead to an over-response or abnormal response.
http://wiki.cns.org/wiki/index.php/Injury,_Sympathetic_Nerve

the muscles that are supplied by these nerves shorten and tighten

This now well-established but generally under-appreciated principle of physiology is aptly known as 'Cannon's Law of Denervation Supersensitivity'. It describes the wide ranging effects of the complete loss of nerve inputs to a variety of bodily structures under experimental conditions. One of the many responses to nerves that are sick or dysfunctional (now termed Disuse Supersensitivity) is that the muscles that are supplied by these nerves shorten and tighten (due to the supersensitivity of both the muscle's specialized stretch receptors and motor nerve-muscle junctions), resulting not only in muscle spasm and stiffness which limit flexibility, but a whole sequence of pain compounding reactions. The two earliest are that localized taut bands of muscle fibers begin to compress the small specialized pain sensing (and now extra-sensitive) nerve fibers within the muscle (known as myofascial tender or trigger points) causing type 1 pain, and the compressed muscles do not allow proper blood flow in, or waste products to be removed. This leads to a build up of lactic acid, which further enhances the perception of pain through type 2 pain mechanisms. Continued and prolonged muscle shortening or contracture gradually leads to increased mechanical tension on the muscle's tendonous attachments to bone, causing all of the various tendonitis (types 1 & 2 pain) syndromes throughout the body. The end result is a truly vicious snowballing cycle of pain, with the muscle shortening further increasing pressure on the nerves.

www.northwestims.com/faq-4.html

Cannon's law of denervation tells us that if a post-ganglionic neurone has it's pre-ganglionic input removed, then it will become super-sensitive to the normal neurotransmitters that mediate that pre-ganglionic input. There is a variety of reasons for this, including up-regulation of receptors for the neurotransmitter(s), post-receptor effects, and impaired removal of neurotransmitters from the synapse

www.anaesthetist.com/anaes/patient/ans/

Most authors do not describe clinically significant capsular adhesions as a predominant finding in the chronic phase of this condition. Instead, pathologic data confirm an active process of hyperplastic fibroplasia and excessive type III collagen secretion that lead to soft-tissue contractures of the aforementioned structures (ie, the coracohumeral ligament, soft tissues of rotator interval, the subscapularis muscle, the subacromial bursae). However, these findings were observed in surgical patients who had severe and late-phase disease and cannot be applied to early phases of the disease.

From the chromosomal, cytochemical, and histologic points of view, the soft-tissue contractures are identical to those seen in a Dupuytren contracture of the hand. These contractures result in the classic progressive loss of ROM of the glenohumeral joint, which affects external rotation and abduction, then flexion, adduction, and extension (in descending order of severity). Despite these histopathologic similarities, the favorable and regressive outcome of adhesive capsulitis differs from the unfavorable and progressive outcome of Dupuytren disease.

http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/326828-overview#a0104

slowing of the heart rate usually occurs on the second to fourth day after sympathectomy

The rate fell to a level between 40 and 6o per minute, the maximal slowing usually occurring on the second to fourth day after operation. Consistent slowing of the rate was not observed after a unilateral thoracic sympathectomy of either side. While there was some recovery from the maximum bradycardia with the passage of time in most patients, relatively slow resting cardiac rates and failure of tachycardia to develop with postural hypotension or exercise persisted in all patients.

Skoog's12 work has shown that there are marked differences in the number and precise location of the accessory ganglion cells in the cervical region in different patients and on the two sides in the same patient.
Annals of Surgery, 1949 October, Volume 130 Number 4

These gustatory phenomena were quite different from physiologic gustatory sweating

In a series of 100 bilateral upper dorsal sympathectomiesperformed for palmar hyperhidrosis, gustatory sweating and othergustatory phenomena were reported by 68 of 93 patients (73%),followed up for an average of 11/2 years. These gustatory phenomenawere quite different from physiologic gustatory sweating: awide range of gustatory stimuli caused a variety of phenomenain varied locations. There was a negative correlation betweenthe incidence of these phenomena and the occurrence of Horner'ssyndrome after sympathectomy. Analysis of our observations,and of clinical and experimental work of others, leads to theconclusion that gustatory phenomena after upper dorsal sympathectomyare the result of preganglionic sympathetic regeneration orcollateral sprouting with aberrant synapses in the superiorcervical ganglion.

http://archneur.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/abstract/34/10/619

Autonomic dysequilibrium (local sympathectomy) leading to obesity

A similar reduction of fat mobilization from fat depots occurs after VMH lesions, as after local sympathectomy, suggesting that the sympathetic pathway to the adipose tissue runs through the VMH.
Bray and York hypothesize that the change in energy balance in animals after VMH lesions is a result of autonomic dysequilibrium. The sympathetic outflow is reduced and the parasympathetic outflow increased. This shift in balance results in hyperinsulinemia and altered metabolic pathways leading to obesity. During the digestion and metabolism of a meal, the autonomic nervous system provides important (but not sole) feedback control on satiety.

The Nervous System and Adipose Tissue, By Katharine Dalziel, MD, MBBS, MRCP
Clinics in Dermatology
October-December 1989, Volume 7, Number 4, pages 62-77

our ignorance of the mechanisms of primary hyperhidrosis and of the effect of sympathetic ablation

causes of autonomic dysfunction - sympathectomy

The finger wrinkling response is abolished by upper thoracic sympathectomy. The test is also abnormal in some patients with diabetic autonomic dysfunction, the Guillan-Barre syndrome and other peripheral sympathetic dysfunction in limbs. (p.46)

Other causes of autonomic dysfunction without neurological signs include medications, acute autonomic failure, endocrine disease, surgical sympathectomy . (p.100)

Disorders of the Autonomic Nervous System

By David Robertson, Italo Biaggioni

Edition: illustrated

Published by Informa Health Care, 1995

ISBN 3718651467, 9783718651467

All patients except one suffered from compensatory sweating

Complications in patients with palmar hyperhidrosis treated with transthoracic endoscopicsympathectomy.

Neurosurgery. 1997 Jul ;41 (1):110-3; discussion 113-5 9218302

OBJECTIVE: To assess the complications in a group of patients with palmar hyperhidrosis treated with transthoracic endoscopic sympathectomy. The extraordinarily high incidence of postoperative compensatory hyperhidrosis in our series is stressed and explained. METHODS: The retrospective study included chart reviews and outpatient assessments. Seventy-two patients underwent T2 or T2-T3 endoscopic sympathectomy for primary palmar hyperhidrosis. Patients' hyperhidrosis severity, precipitating factors, postoperative complications, surgical results, and satisfaction were assessed. Severity of palmar hyperhidrosis and compensatory hyperhidrosis was classified by two grading scales. RESULTS: The success rate ofsympathectomy was 93%. All patients except one suffered from compensatory sweating,which was the main cause of patients' dissatisfaction postoperatively. Seventeen percent of the patients (12 of 72 patients) experienced new symptoms of gustatory sweating (facial sweating associated with eating). Twenty-one patients experienced other complications, including pneumothorax, Horner's syndrome,nasal obstruction, and intercostal neuralgia.

'Emotional' sweating regulated by neocortex and limbic cortex

Careful observations showed that the forearm sweating responded diversely to various mental stimuli, unlike the palmar sweating whose response was always an increase. Mental arithmetic, mental testing and physical exercise caused an immediate increase in the palmar sweating but often elicited a transient decrease in the forearm sweating, whereas pain, noise, and emotional stimuli consistently provoked an increase of sweating on the forearm as well as on the palm. These observations suggest that the activities of higher centers, presumably involving neocortex and limbic cortex, exert various influences on the central mechanisms of palmar and generalized sweating.
Jpn J Physiol. 1975;25(4):525-36.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1206808

hyperhidrosis is not related with social phobia or personality disorder

The total reward dependence and persistence scores were significantly higher in hyperhidrosis patients. The fear of uncertainty in the harm avoidance scale was found to be significantly greater in hyperhidrosis patients. Regarding character dimensions, the total score in each of the subscales self-directedness, cooperativeness and self-transcendence was found to be higher in hyperhidrosis patients. Conclusion: The higher scores of all subscales of character dimensions in hyperhidrosis patients suggest that hyperhidrosis is not related with social phobia or personality disorder.

http://www.online.karger.com/ProdukteDB/produkte.asp?Aktion=ShowFulltext&ArtikelNr=99589&Ausgabe=232867&ProduktNr=224164

Permanent thermoregulatory dysfunction after ETS

What you see here is not a result of the surgery gone wrong, this is the inevitable consequence of cutting/clamping the sympathetic chain, independently of skill of the surgeon, experience of the surgeon, T2, or T3, T4, or method used. Once the communication is disrupted, (and it happens with the clamping as well), it will disable the body's thermoregulation and will cause malfunctioning of the sympathetic nervous system. This damage is permanent and irreversible. There has been no controlled clinical trial into the effects of this surgery on humans, but it is still used for many different conditions: like angina pectoris, to lower blood pressure, to treat migraine, to reduce pain in cancer patients, to reduce immuneresponses after skin transplant, to treat various cancers in the oral cavity, and among many: to treat anxiety disorders, schizophrenia, and phobias. The operation will change you for ever. In fact, it was used as a predecessor to lobotomy. Every drug introduced into the market has to go through rigorous testing procedures before approval. This does not apply to surgeries. It is left to the surgeon's to decide whether they offer this sugery or not. As soon as there are 2 docotrs who offer a procedure, it is considered acceptable medical practice. The surgery earns the surgeon an avarege of $ 2000 for a one hour procedure. The institutions set up to follow up on medical procedures failed to this day to investigate and follow up on this procedure. It is truly a medical scandal of this century.

Does the rule of a free market in health care provide protection to the patients?

Australian Review of ETS surgery

"A lack of high quality randomised trial evidence on ETS means that it is difficult to make a judgment on the safety and effectiveness of this technique. There is potentially a number of safety issues associated with this procedure. ASERNIP-s suggests that a full systematic review including all available comparative and case series information, together with clinical inpuut, should be undertaken to provide up-to-date and comprehensive assessment of the safety and effectiveness of ETS." (ASERNIP-s Report No. 71, August 2009)

Australian Review of ETS surgery - 2001

The four case series were not critically appraised because they are prone to bias and have significant methodological problems. These studies represent level IV evidence according to the NHMRC criteria and one should not draw firm conclusions from their findings.

To date, the benefits or side effects associated with endoscopic thoracic sympathectomy for treating facial blushing have not been properly evaluated and reported.

Further research using a well-designed controlled trial is warranted to assess the efficacy of endoscopic thoracic sympathectomy for treating facial blushing.

Centre for Clinical Effectiveness - Monash

Swedish Review

Finnish Review

UK Review of ETS surgery

We did not identify any controlled trials or cohort studies. The
evidence about effectiveness, based on three case series, was
therefore very limited. The main weakness of these studies was their lack of a comparison group and their resulting inability to exclude a placebo response to surgery. In addition, the methods of assessing outcome were poorly described and not validated, and the range of outcomes assessed was limited. The studies provided very limited evidence that sympathectomy improves blushing. Side effects were common.
London: Bazian Ltd (Editors), Wessex Institute for Health Research and Development, University of Southampton 2003: 11

Wiley & Sons, Inc, news release - 2004

"Lifestyle" surgical procedure carries unrecognized risk of complications.”
Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc, British Journal of Surgery, Feb 5, 2004

The authors found that the incidence of hypotension was a function of the level of sympathetic denervation, occurring in 60% of patients with a T7 sympathectomy, and in 100% of patient with a T4 or higher level of sympathectomy.
(p 226)

"Inappropriate" bradycardia (i.e. "normal" HR in face of ↓MAP with sensory level T3-T4)
Peripheral vasodilation should evoke an ↑ HR. But ↓ venous return → ↑vagal tone, so HR remains at preblock rate but is "inappropriately" slow.

Central neuraxial anesthesia-induced sympathectomy leads to peripheral vasodilation, reduced preload, and subsequently decreased cardiac output. The incidence and extent of hypotension depends on the height of the block, the patient's position, and whether appropriate measures were instituted prophylactically to minimize hypotension.

After thoracoscopic sympathectomy for hyperhidrosis, very severe discomfort and hyperhidrosis in the neighboring non-sympathectomized regions occurred with alarming frequency and intensity.
(p.879)

Cousins and Bridenbaugh's Neural Blockade in Clinical Anesthesia and Pain Medicine by Michael J Cousins, Phillip O Bridenbaugh, Daniel B Carr, and Terese T Horlocker

Wolters Kluwer Health
Edition: 4 - 2008

Clinical Anesthesiology By G. Edward Morgan, Maged S. Mikhail, Michael J. Murray
McGraw-Hill, Edition: 3, 2002

“cervical sympathectomy isolates all these sympathetic ganglion cells from the central nervous system and prevents them from responding to reflex or emotional changes in the central nervous system." Cunningham's Manual of Practical Anatomy: Volume III: Head, Neck and Brain, 1986

ETS is a surgical procedure for hand sweating and blushing. This is achieved by cutting the sympathetic chain, resulting in autonomic dysfunction and the inability to sweat on the upper body. But it does more than that.
“cervical sympathectomy isolates all these sympathetic ganglion cells from the central nervous system and prevents them from responding to reflex or emotional changes in the central nervous system."
Cunningham's Manual of Practical Anatomy: Volume lll: Head, Neck and Brain, 1986

disturbed peripheral vascular and heart rate responses after sympathectomy

Denervation supersensitivity leads to Raynaud's Disease

$Denervation supersensitivity leads to Raynaud\$
Cannon and his colleagues showed in the 1930s that section and subsequent degeneration of the sympathetic nerves led to a marked supersensitivity of the sturcture to exogenous catecholamines. The increase in sensitivity ranged from 10-to 100-fold in different tissues, such as the spleen on section of the splenic nerves, or the nictitating membrane on section of the postganglionic cervical sympathetic nerve or the heart on removal of the stellate ganglion. In smooth muscle the increase in sensitivity is mostly explained by the associated loss of neuronal re-uptake of noradrenaline, with only a lesser role for the increase in receptor numbers. Mechanisms of Drug Action on the Nervous System by Ronald W. Ryall, Cambridge University Press, 1989

Changes in Electrophysiology following sympathectomy

Sympathectomised dogs presented significant increases in: basic sinus period, sino-atrial conduction time (SACT), AH and HV intervals of the His bundle electrogram, atrial functional (AFRP) and effective (AERP) refractory periods, atrio-ventricular node functional (AVNFRP) and effective (AVNERP) refractory periods, ventricular functional (VFRP) and effective (EVRP) refractory periods and atrial (AMAP) and ventricular (VMAP) monophasic action potential durations. Corrected sinus recovery time (CSRT) was not affected by chemical sympathectomy. Neither was the atrial ERP/MAP duration ratio. This new form of sympathectomy affects all the levels of the cardiac conduction system. Such results are in accordance with those obtained with surgical sympathectomy or the use of beta-blocking agents.

DIANE GODIN*, CLAUDE GUIMOND{dagger}, RÉGINALD A NADEAU{ddagger} and A ROBERT LEBLANC§

Cardiovascular Research 1982 16(9):524-529;
© 1982 by European Society of Cardiology

Cardiovascular collapse caused by carbon dioxide insufflation during sympathectomy

Carbon dioxide insufflation into the pleural space during one-lung anaesthesia for thoracoscopic surgery is used in some centres to improve surgical access, even though this practice has been associated with well-described cardiovascular compromise. The present report is of a 35-year-old woman undergoing thoracoscopic left dorsal sympathectomy for hyperhidrosis. During one-lung anaesthesia the insufflation of carbon dioxide into the non-ventilated hemithorax for approximately 60 seconds, using a pressure-limited gas inflow, was accompanied by profound bradycardia and hypotension that resolved promptly with the release of the gas.
Australian Society of Anaesthetists 2002

Sympathetic regulation of the cerebral circulation by the carotid chemoreceptor reflex

After bilateral cervical sympathectomy (n = 9), carotid chemoreceptor reflex stimulation induced significantly different (P less than 0.01) effects on cerebral blood flow, which rose by 42 +/- 8%, and cerebral vascular resistance, which did not change.
In "sham" dogs, the repeat response to carotid chemoreceptor stimulation also induced significantly different effects from those in dogs with sympathectomy. Thus, in the conscious dog, stimulation of the carotid chemoreceptor reflex elicits significant sympathetically mediated vasoconstriction in cerebral vessels.
Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol 238: H594-H598, 1980;

Effect of adrenalectomy or sympathectomy on spinal cord blood flow

We conclude that adrenalectomy near-totally ablates the hypothermia-associated increase in RSCBF (regional spinal cord blood flow) measured in intact rats and that abdominal sympathectomy totally ablates it. This evidence complements morphological evidence for adrenergic innervation of the spinal cord vasculature.

Heart and Circulatory Physiology, Vol 260, Issue 3 827-H831, Copyright © 1991 by American Physiological Society

A. Iwai, W. W. Monafo and S. G. Eliasson
Department of Surgery, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri 63110.

Sympathectomy induced adrenal hypertropy

Journal of Hypertension. 17(7):933-940, July 1999.
Qiua, Jingxin 1; Nelsona, Sharon H. 1; Spethb, Robert C. 2; Wanga, Donna H. 1,3

Objective: Previous studies indicate that the adrenal gland plays a compensatory role in the maintenance of blood pressure in chemically sympathectomized rats. However, the mechanisms responsible for compensatory adrenal responses are poorly understood. This study examined the regulation of adrenal growth and type 1A, 1B, and type 2 angiotensin II (Ang II) receptor (AT1A, AT1B and AT2) expression in the adrenal gland induced by sympathectomy.

Denervation supersensitivity leads to Raynaud's Disease

Cervical sympathectomy reduces the heterogeneity of oxygen saturation in small cerebrocortical veins

Sympathectomy significantly reduced this heterogeneity in the anterior cortex through a reduction in the number of low O2 saturation veins (coefficient of variation 11.7%).

H. M. Wei, A. K. Sinha and H. R. Weiss
Department of Anesthesia, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, Piscataway 08854-5635.

Informed consent - from the ETS forum

Physicians are required to gain informed consent prior to administering a treatment. Informed consent is gained by providing patients with a full accounting of the risks of the treatment as documented in peer-reviewed, published medical/scientific literature.

Your scenario of surgeons being flummoxed by unhappy patients complaining after surgery doesn't hold water. The rules of professional medical ethics require that the treating physician be well versed in the published literature on the treatments he delivers.

There is a mountain of published research (spanning nearly a century) documenting the adverse effects of sympathectomy. There are numerous studies, for example, showing very high rates of severe side effects and studies showing that satisfaction diminishes substantially over the long term.

It is a doctors job to know this stuff and it is their ethical duty to disclose that information to patients.

So, I see the blame thing as pretty cut and dry. Surgeons perfoming sympathectomies routinely withhold information vital to informed consent. Anyone who does objective comparison between what is documented in medical/scientific literature and what is typically disclosed to prospective ETS patients has no choice but reach this conclusion.

And, to make matters worse, many surgeons use testimonials from a hand-selected group of their happiest patients to advocate the surgery. That practice is considered unethical by all medical professional organizations.

http://etsandreversals.yuku.com/reply/22927/Would-you-do-it-again#reply-22927

'Improved sympathectomy' - is it an oxymoron?

"also it seems like the more bad and negative affects were from 10 to 12 years ago when they had just started performing the surgery.. they must have improved it a lot by now.?"

This procedure has been performed since the 1920's. Yes, the 1920's. In the 1980's they started to do it using "keyhole" surgery which means they don't have to make a big incision. But, the surgery is no different than what they've been doing for the last 70+ years. It's a nerve injury. You can't "improve" they way you inflict a nerve injury. You can't injure the nerve in some "special" way such that the injury suddenly has a different effect on the body.

The functional name for the this surgery is "sympathetic denervation". It's not some super-advanced, modern cure based on recent discoveries in neurophysiology. It's a primitive, destructive procedure. It's a method used on animals for research. It's brute force method...destroy the pathways to the sweat glands over a large region. Unfortunately, it destroys pathways to and from many other organs including the heart and lungs and causes a large number of neuropathological dysfunction. That hasn't changed in the last ten years. It will not and cannot change in the next 1000 years because it will still be a nerve injury 1000 years from now. I'm not making this up. It's a simple fact. Don't let some doctor take advantage of your ignorance
http://etsandreversals.yuku.com/topic/4919/Should-i-have-ETS-surgery#.Tok-TE8YAyk

The courts have become the sole policing body for the medical profession

Major lawsuits, with the major judgments that go with them, may not completely keep negligent physicians from practicing, but they are the one way that currently exists to deter these individuals from practicing their inept brand of medicine. "

Over the years, we have given a lot of thought to why the medical profession adheres to this code of silence. What is it about this profession that causes it to protect its own at the expense of the public?"

Harvey F. Wachsman: Lethal Medicine

Publisher: Henry Holt & Co

Successful lawyer died after procedure to cure blushing

Alan Synnott was the country’s leading solicitor specialising in personal injuries.

He had built up a large and very successful practice, but the 44-year-old father of three suffered from social phobia and facial blushing.

The blushing was interfering with his ability to speak in public and to run his office and deal with staff.

He was referred to a surgeon for an operation to stop the blushing but, during the operation, a vein and artery were damaged and massive bleeding occurred.

Yesterday his grieving widow, Eleanor Synnott, settled her action for damages for €5m.

http://www.aclsolicitors.ie/news/5m_payout_to_family_after_fatal_operation/