Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 21, 2026
Transaxillary First Rib Resection for Treatment of the Thoracic Outlet Syndrome
Published on: September 13, 2020
Long-term outcomes associated to video-assisted thoracic sympathotomy for palmar-axillar subtype of the hyperhidrosis
1Section of Neurological Surgery, Santa Helena Hospital. Unit of Neurosurgery, Hospital de Base do Distrito Federal. Post-Graduate Program in Medical Science, University of Brasília (UnB), Brasília DF, Brazil. leandroprettoflores@hotmail.com
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.
