Objective To examine the relation between compensatory sweating（CS） and the resection site of the sympathetic nerve china during sympathectomy in treatment of palmal hyperhidrosis and thus to investigate the potential mechanism of the occurrence of compensatory sweating. Methods From October 2004 to December 2005, 128 patients with primary palmar hyperhidrosis were randomly divided into two groups： 61 with T3 sympathicectomy （T3 group） and 67 with T4 sympathicectomy （T4 group）. All were treated under general anesthesia, single lumen intubation and via intercostal mediastinoscopic surgery. Results No morbidity or mortality occurred. Sweating of target organs was cured in all cases. Rates of minor CS in Group T3 or T4 showed no statistically significant （χ^2 = 1.866, P = 0.122）. Rate of moderate CS in group T4 was significantly lower than that in group T3 （χ^2=7.618, P=0.006）. No severe CS occurred. Conclusion Occurrence rate and severity of compensatory sweating are lower in T4 resection than in T3.
ObjectiveTo explore clinical outcomes of video-assisted thoracoscopic sympathectomy (VATS) for the treatment of palmar hyperhidrosis (PH), and compare the results between T2 segment surgery and T2-T3 segment surgery. MethodsFrom April 2009 to August 2012, 48 consecutive PH patients underwent single-port VATS in Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Hospital of Sun Yat-Sen University. There were 18 male and 30 female patients with their age of 14-40 (22.1±5.4) years. According to different surgical procedures, all the patients were divided into T2 segment group (29 patients) and T2-T3 segment group (19 patients). Preoperative characteristics, surgical results and postoperative morbidity were compared between the 2 groups. ResultsPH symptoms disappeared after VATS in all the patients. Patients were followed up for 6-44(21.3±10.1)months, and 2 patients were lost in both T2 segment group and T2-T3 segment group. The incidence of postoperative compensatory sweating was 66.7% (18/29) in T2 segment group and 70.6% (12/19) in T2-T3 segment group. The incidence of moderate to severe compensatory sweating of T2 segment group was significantly higher than that of T2-T3 segment group (51.9% vs. 29.4%, P < 0.05). Twenty-six patients (96.3%) in T2 segment group and 16 patients (94.1%) in T2-T3 segment group were completely or partially satisfied with surgical results. ConclusionVATS is the only effective surgical procedure for the treatment of moderate to severe PH. Both T2 and T2-T3 segment sympathectomy can effectively reduce PH symptoms after VATS, but the incidence of postoperative compensatory sweating is high, which has negative influence on patients'satisfaction.