Long-term outcomes associated to video-assisted thoracic sympathotomy for palmar-axillar subtype of the hyperhidrosis.

OBJECTIVE Surgery for both palmar and axillar hyperhidrosis usually includes the interruption of the sympathetic chain in multiple levels. This study aimed to determine the long-term outcomes associated to video-assisted thoracic sympathotomy (VATS) of T2, T3 and T4 ganglia for these cases. METHODS Analysis of the outcomes obtained from 36 patients regarding the rate of resolution of the symptoms and the compensatory sweating (CS). All subjects were followed-up for 36 months. RESULTS Good outcomes were observed in 98.6% for palmar and 60% for axillary hyperhidrosis (p=0.0423), respectively. Of the subjects, 86% reported some postoperative episode of CS, however only 45% (p=0.0031) still noticed it at the end of the follow-up period. CONCLUSIONS VATS is effective for the excessive palmar sweating, whereas it is fully efficient for only two thirds of the cases sustaining associated axillar hyperhidrosis. CS is expected as a rule following the proposed operative protocol, however it is usually self-limited.