The amount of compensatory sweating depends on the patient, the damage that the white rami communicans incurs, and the amount of cell body reorganization in the spinal cord after surgery.
Other potential complications include inadequate resection of the ganglia, gustatory sweating, pneumothorax, cardiac dysfunction, post-operative pain, and finally Horner’s syndrome secondary to resection of the stellate ganglion.
www.ubcmj.com/pdf/ubcmj_2_1_2010_24-29.pdf

After severing the cervical sympathetic trunk, the cells of the cervical sympathetic ganglion undergo transneuronic degeneration
After severing the sympathetic trunk, the cells of its origin undergo complete disintegration within a year.
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1439-0442.1967.tb00255.x/abstract

Saturday, January 26, 2008

Slowly the surgeons admit to more and more side-effects

Go to Dr Reisfeld's web site to read his new comments about ETS: www.sweaty-palms.com/blushing.html

"Another clinical observation which will need more time for verification is the thought that the higher failure rate of sympathectomy when ETS is done only for facial blushing has to do with the fact that when the sympathectomies were done in the past for vascular problems the success rate was very minimal. At this time we know that higher failure rate was due to a clinical situation which we call denervation hypersensitivity. In essense the blood vessels become very sensitive to certain circulating hormones within the blood system. Dr. Reisfeld believes that the same phenomenon happens in this facial blushing presentation. More time and more clinical experience is needed before there can be a more definite conclusion."

Hopefully this may assist court cases but it sounds like Reisfeld is trying to cover his legal liability in his "at the time we thought..." comments.

Also see how the Australian site www.easternsurgical.com.au (click on blushing) have now admitted "some failures" and had to remove their biased comments about 500 consecutive successes.

Unfortunately the more people who have ETS side effects, the more the statistics become 'significant' to such doctors.

Madonna