"Sympathectomy is a technique about which we have limited knowledge, applied to disorders about which we have little understanding."

Associate Professor Robert Boas, Faculty of Pain Medicine of the Australasian College of Anaesthetists and the Royal College of Anaesthetists

http://www.pfizer.no/templates/Page____886.aspx

Wednesday, May 21, 2014

Sympathectomy is by no means a benign procedure, and sympathectomy for sweating can induce pain and allodynia

"As to sympathetic block, or sympathectomy, Seddon (1964) when writing of acute ischaemia said 'let us hope that the completely futile sympathetic block will not have been done'. Birnstingl (1982), vascular surgeon to the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital for some years, said 'sympathetic block is useless'; sympathectomy has no place in the treatment of acute ischaemia..." (p. 308)



"Sympathectomy is by no means a benign procedure, and sympathectomy for sweating can induce pain and allodynia at the border zone which is sometimes associated with pronounced increase in sweating in that area." (p. 534)


Surgical Disorders of the Peripheral Nerves by  Rolfe Birch
Springer, Jan 21, 2011 - Medical - 512 pages





original article published in Ann R Coll Surg Engl 2002; 84:181-184"




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