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.