Phenol sympathectomy in the treatment of intermittent claudication: a controlled clinical trail

Twenty-five patients with intermittent claudication were randomly allocated to treatment either by injection of phenol into the lumbar sympathetic chain or by injection of local anaesthetic subcutaneously. On the day after the injection, sympathectomy, assessed by skin temperature change, was achieved in 85 per cent of the phenol group. At 1 month subjective improvement was claimed by 45 per cent of the patients in the sympathectomized group and by 64 per cent in the control group; at 3 months the figures were 25 and 45 per cent respectively. Treadmill testing at two exercise loads showed no significant difference in claudication distance or stopping time between the two groups. Calf blood pressure response following exercise was not affected by sympathectomy. There is no subjective or objective evidence that phenol sympathectomy improves intermittent claudication.