Endoscopic thoracic sympathetic block by clipping for recurrent palmar hyperhidrosis

Postoperative complications of endoscopic thoracic sympathectomy may be troublesome in some patients. Between January 1998 and September 2002, a total of 16 patients with recurrent palmar hyperhidrosis underwent video-assisted thoracoscopic T2 and T3 sympathetic block. There were seven men and nine women, with a mean age of 21.1 years (range, 12-35 years). All patients were placed in a semi-sitting position under single-lumen intubated anesthesia. We performed the T2 sympathetic block for patients with still intact T2 ganglion using an 8-mm, 0 degrees thoracoscope. An additional T3 block should be given if patients received either previous T2 sympathectomy or elevated palmar temperature <1 degrees C after T2 sympathetic block. The mean operation time was 30 minutes. The level of sympathetic blocks were the T2 and T3 in five patients, only T2 block in four, patients, and only T3 block in seven patients. Improvement of palmar hyperhidrosis can be obtained in all patients. One patient received a reverse operation 12 days after the T2 and T3 clipping and obtained improvement of troublesome compensatory sweating and dry hands 1 day after removal of all clips. All patients obtained improvement of palmar hyperhidrosis without recurrence after a mean of 37.1 months of follow-up (range, 12-56 months). Endoscopic thoracic T2 with or without T3 sympathetic block by clipping is a safe and effective method in treating patients with recurrent palmar hyperhidrosis.