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Ann Thorac Surg 2003;75:1075-1079
© 2003 The Society of Thoracic Surgeons
a Thoracic Department, Institut Mutualiste Montsouris, Paris, France
Accepted for publication October 14, 2002.
* Address reprint requests to Dr Gossot, Thoracic Department, Institut Mutualiste Montsouris, 42 Bd Jourdan, F-75014 Paris, France
e-mail: dominique.gossot{at}imm.fr
| Abstract |
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METHODS: From 1993 to 1998, 382 patients suffering from hyperhidrosis of the upper limbs were operated on by means of bilateral ETS. One hundred twenty-five could be reached. There were 91 females and 34 males with a mean age of 28 years. The mean follow-up was 3.8 years (range: 24 to 84 months). Patients answered a detailed questionnaire from an independent observer addressing the following issues: stability of the initial result, outcome of side effects, degree of satisfaction.
RESULTS: The global recurrence rate was 8.8%: 6.6% for palmar hyperhidrosis and 65% for axillary hyperhidrosis. Compensatory sweating was observed in 86.4% of the patients. It was considered as minor by 61% of them, as embarrassing by 31.5%, and as disabling by 7.5%. Other reported side effects were: Horners syndrome in 3 patients (2.4%), healing in 2 of them; chronic rhinitis in 3 (2.4%); gustatory sweating in 9 (7.2%); and hand dryness in 42%. Sixty-five percent of the patients were fully satisfied, 28.7% were globally satisfied, and 6.3% regretted the operation. Ninety-two percent of the patients claimed they would ask for the operation if it were to be redone.
CONCLUSIONS: This study confirms that results of ETS are good and stable for palmar hyperhidrosis but deteriorate for axillary hyperhidrosis. Compensatory sweating does not improve with time and is the main cause of dissatisfaction. Recommendations drawn from these results are the following: (1) patients suffering from isolated axillary hyperhidrosis should rather be treated by local therapy; (2) patients should be better informed of adverse effects.
| Introduction |
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The aim of this study was to check whether patients, after some years, were satisfied or dissatisfied in terms of efficiency and side effects. The study did not aim at dealing with the initial results and postoperative complications that have been recently reported in this journal [5].
| Patients and methods |
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Most patients were suffering from both palmar and plantar HH (9 0.4%), but their main complaint was hand sweating. Precise distribution of sweating is reported in Table 1. All patients considered themselves as severely handicapped: 77% avoided shaking hands, 17% had to wear gloves to achieve some tasks, and 19% said their choice of their professional life had been directly influenced by their handicap. Ninety-two percent of the patients had tried medical therapy before undergoing surgery. Sixty-two percent of them had iontophoresis that was either unsuccessful or poorly tolerated. A majority of the patients (95%) had decided to be operated on because of failure of medical therapy while some (5%) said they had grown weary despite some efficiency of iontophoresis.
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| Technique |
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At the end of the procedure, a 16F chest tube was left in place for a few hours. It was removed after checking the chest Roentgenogram and the patients were usually discharged the morning after surgery. All patients received an analgesic prescription and a recommendation form. In the beginning of our experience, the procedure was performed in two stages after an interval of 2 weeks (51 patients). Then both sides were done as a one-stage procedure (74 patients).
Time between the operation and this study ranged between 2 and 7 years (average: 46 months). All patients were contacted by phone. They answered a detailed questionnaire regarding the early and long-term results, side effects, and satisfaction rate. The same independent observer (A.P.), who did not belong to our department, posed all questions. A sweating index was defined in order to evaluate the evolution of hyperhidrosis with time. One hundred was defined as the level of sweating as estimated by the patient before surgery. Patients were asked how this index had evolved with time.
| Results |
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Patients were asked about postoperative pain. At the time they were questioned, most patients said they remembered having experienced significant postoperative pain, but none complained of persisting pain after 1 year.
Three patients had a unilateral Horners syndrome (2.4%). It healed spontaneously in 2 patients within 6 months. For the third patient, ptosis persisted for more than 6 months and he underwent a blepharoplasty.
Most patients experienced hand dryness in the weeks following surgery. Forty-two percent said it persisted after 6 months. The majority of them (86%) considered this a minor concern and 14% disturbing. None of them saw this side effect as disabling.
Two patients (1.6%) noticed a change in their taste and complained of metallic taste in their mouth. Nine patients (7.2%) had a gustatory sweating, which was considered disturbing by 4 of these patients. Three patients (2.4%) complained of chronic rhinitis.
Compensatory sweating was mentioned by 108 patients (8 6.4%). It was described as mild by 66 patients (61%), disturbing by 34 patients (31%), and disabling by 8 patients (7.5%). These later complained of the need to change clothing during the day and were seeking medical therapy. In two of them, ß-blockers were tried without success. Compensatory sweating was usually predominately on the trunk.
Patients were asked to indicate their degree of satisfaction, taking into account the results on hyperhidrosis and the onset of potential adverse effects. Sixty-five percent were unreservedly satisfied, 28.7% were globally satisfied (ie, the benefit of surgery was superior to adverse effects), and 6.3% said they regretted having been operated on. Most of the patients who declared they were satisfied said they regretted having waited so long before electing to undergo surgery and some said they had experienced a sort of rebirth. For those dissatisfied, the main reason was severe CS (5 of these 8 patients).
The last question of the questionnaire was "If necessary, would you be reoperated on?" A large majority answered "Yes" (92%) and a minority "No" (8%). The reasons given were as follows: disabling CS in 6 patients; failure in 1 patient; major postoperative pain in 1 patient; and no reason was given by 2 patients.
| Comment |
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Compensatory sweating is a troublesome side effect of ETS whose incidence is difficult to assess, because the reported rates vary from 3% [2] to 98% [15]. The usual reported average rate is around 60% (Table 2). High rates of CS are found in studies from countries with hot and humid climates [16]. Andrews and Rennie [17], who have recorded the occurrence of CS after ETS in a predictive manner in 42 patients, reported that 36 patients (86%) suffered from CS. Ten of these patients considered CS as severe. Most patients consider CS as a minor drawback, which is much more bearable than their former condition. But others find CS troublesome. In some rare cases, CS may be so disturbing that patients ask for reconstruction of the sympathetic nerve [18]. Thus, the rate and the importance of CS are underestimated. With regard to CS rate, numerous factors may explain the discrepancy between the various studies. As mentioned by Lai and coworkers [15], the climate plays a major role. In their series, patients lived in a hot environment (Taiwan) and most (98%) complain of CS [15]. In another series from Taiwan, the rate of CS was comparable (97%) [16]. This has also be noticed by surgeons from Middle East countries [19]. One may assume that patients from Europe or North America do not complain about CS at the same level according to the time of year ( winter or summer) that they are seen in consultation. In addition, it is often written that CS progressively disappears with time [1, 9, 10, 20]. Our experience demonstrates that CS was still present after more than 2 years and patients did not report improvement with time. Our experience also illustrates that some patients who just mentioned mild CS when seen in consultation 2 months after surgery may complain of severe CS some months later. This may be partly due to the fact that patients are initially so satisfied to be relieved from their HH that CS is minimized. With time, patients get familiar with their new condition and progressively forget how much they were handicapped. Therefore, adverse effects appear in the foreground. The average follow-up is 46 months, so the outcome cannot be anticipated in the very long-term, but it has to be admitted that the common assertion that CS vanishes with time is most likely wrong. Herbst and colleagues [4], who had a follow-up of 14 years, reported CS in 6 7% of their patients.
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Lin and colleagues [22] described a technique of mere clipping of both ends of the T2 ganglion. The total rate of CS was not mentioned, but 5 patients were reoperated on for disabling CS. The procedure consisted of the removal of the clips. Four recovered from their CS. Although these techniques look interesting, one may wonder whether the efficacy of the operation will remain stable with time. Lai and coworkers [15] suggested that limited resection may lead to recurrence in the long-term. Chiou and Chen [16] reported a recurrence rate of 16% after limited T2 resection, some of which occurred only 2 weeks after surgery. At the time we were performing limited sympathectomy with preservation of the sympathetic trunk and division of the rami, we had to face early relapses [6]. This most likely means that reinervation is possible, as suggested by some authors [23, 24].
The rate of unsatisfied patients was similar to the rate reported in other studies (Table 2). As mentioned in most series, the main reason for dissatisfaction is CS. Herbst and colleagues [4] observed that CS was a complaint that increased in importance after years. In their series, the satisfaction rate was 95.5% in the early postoperative period and decreased to 67% in the long-term [4].
Although patients have always been aware of CS, some of them complained they had not been clearly warned. It is therefore of utmost importance to give both oral and written information without minimizing the problem. Some patients with associated psychologic problems should be referred to the psychiatrist for consultation. In doing so, some patients will not be selected for surgery and others will renounce it on their own. Those who do have the surgery will better tolerate eventual CS because they will have been better prepared. Application of ETS for isolated axillary HH seems questionable [14]. In these patients a less invasive method should be first considered, such as axillary liposuction [25] or botulinium toxin injections [26]. Naumann and coworkers [27] have demonstrated that 94% of the patients responded to botulinum toxin injections at week 4. The mean duration of benefit was about 7 months. Those patients relapsing could be treated by repeated injections [27]. In this indication, sympathectomy should be the last solution.
| References |
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