autonomic neuropathy in which the sympathetic nerve function has been divided into two distinct regions

CS or compensatory hyperhidrosis is the most common and troublesome side-effect of hyperhidrosis surgery and is the leading cause of patient regret after sympathetic surgery.
A severe form of CS is the split-body syndrome, corposcindosis, which is defined as an
autonomic neuropathy in which the sympathetic nerve function has been divided into two distinct
regions, one dead and the other hyperactive. In these cases, the patient feels like he or she is living
in two separate bodies.
The rates of CS in some series from the past 10 years are summarized in Table 4, with rates of mild CS varying from 14% to 90% and severe CS from 1.2% to 30.9%.
Some investigators only report on patients who have severe CS because they believe that almost all patients develop mild CS after sympathectomy.
Pascal DUMONT Thorac Surg Clin 18 (2008) 193–207

produces the equivalent of a sympathectomy, preventing noradrenaline release

Bretylium
Class III
Mode of action
- increases action potential duration and refractory period of cardiac cells
- antifibrillatory effect on ventricular muscle - may be more important than class III effects in emergency treatment of malignant ventricular arrhythmias
- initially causes noradrenaline release and then produces the equivalent of a
sympathectomy, preventing noradrenaline release (class II effect)
Clinical use
- useful adjunct to DC shock in managing life-threatening ventricular
arrhythmias, especially refractory VF
- theoretical advantages of lignocaine but no advantage has been demonstrated clinically