HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS		QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Personal Folders Download to citation manager Permission Requests Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Hsu, M.-H. Articles by Li, Y.-C. Search for Related Content PubMed Articles by Hsu, M.-H. Articles by Li, Y.-C. Related Collections Mediastinum Related Article

Ann Thorac Surg 2005;80:1160
© 2005 The Society of Thoracic Surgeons

---

Correspondence

Compensatory Sweating After Thoracoscopic Sympathectomy Deserves More Attention

Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences, Taipei Medical University, 250 Wu-Hsin Street, Taipei, 110 Taiwan

(Email: 701056{at}tmu.edu.tw).

To the Editor:

We read with great interest the article by Dumont and associates [1]. Compensatory sweating after thoracoscopic sympathectomy has been widely discussed in Taiwan society in the past few months.

Lots of people in Taiwan suffer from hyperhidrosis palmaris [2]. Thoracoscopic sympathectomy is covered by the National Health Insurance, and patient billing for this operation does not exceed $60 in United States currency. This is why this operation is so popular here. In 2001, there were 7,504 claims to the Bureau of National Health Insurance for this type of operation. Many people have undergone this type of operation, and there are quite a number of people bothered by postoperative compensatory sweating.

Patients with serious compensatory sweating must change clothes several times a day (eg, some patients complained that they change as often as 10 times per day), resulting in serious impact on work and social interaction. Patients suffering from such serious side effects in Taiwan have formed a support group based on an Internet discussion forum to request the government to take this problem seriously (see: http://home.pchome.com.tw/family/vivi12175/). Starting in October 2004, The Department of Health, Executive Yuan, Taiwan prohibited surgeons from performing this operation on patients younger than 20 years of age. At the present time, this support group is striving to promote a total ban on performing this type operation in Taiwan. To our knowledge, this type of support group also exists in England, Sweden, Spain, and Japan.

Our current knowledge on compensatory sweating is very limited. Based on our personal experiences, compensatory sweating does not improve after removal of the clips in patients who underwent the clipping method operation. Informing the patient of the seriousness of the consequences before this operation is absolutely necessary.

	References

Top References

 

1. Dumont P, Denoyer A, Robin P. Long-term results of thoracoscopic sympathectomy for hyperhidrosis Ann Thorac Surg 2004;78:1801-1807.[Abstract/Free Full Text]
2. Lin TS, Wang NP, Huang LC. Pitfalls and complication avoidance associated with transthoracic endoscopic sympathectomy for primary hyperhidrosis (analysis of 2200 cases) Int J Surg Investig 2001;2:377-385.[Medline]

This article has been cited by other articles:

				P. Dumont Compensatory Sweating After Thoracoscopic Sympathectomy Deserves More Attention: Reply Ann. Thorac. Surg., September 1, 2005; 80(3): 1161 - 1161. [Full Text] [PDF]

This Article Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Personal Folders Download to citation manager Permission Requests Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Hsu, M.-H. Articles by Li, Y.-C. Search for Related Content PubMed Articles by Hsu, M.-H. Articles by Li, Y.-C. Related Collections Mediastinum Related Article