updated 2010-04-24
How to proceed
You can have more insight into your possibilities by filling up a follow-up questionnaire to inform us the situation before and after your original ETS. You can have an estimate of the costs and some more info here.
The aim of the surgery
The first aim in correctional surgery is to restore the normal neural pathways in the sympathetic chain. This is done by:
1. Excision of the scar tissue around the cut nerve ends. This often gives immediate relief in the compensatory hyperhidrosis by stopping the neuropathic feedback hypersensitivity. If pain has been included in the side effects, it is usually right away diminished after this neurolysis.
2. Adding fresh nerve stimuli to the midbrain structures. To accomplish this we transpose the living intercostal nerve
to the stellate (T1) ganglion.
This procedure adds
to the possibility of thermoregulatory feedback between the lower
sympathetic chain and the midbrain ganglia. Also the energy level may be
restored, if damaged in the first surgery. This result is often immediate.
3. Microsurgical nerve reconstruction with a living intercostal nerve graft from inside of the chest wall is in addition used to unite the T1 and T2, possibly T3 and T4 ganglia. This way the normal continuity, interrupted by the ETS surgery, is restored and the face and hands usually regain some moisture and the reflex or compensatory sweating is further diminished. We no longer need to take any nerve from the ankle. The final recovery, however, can take more than a year and goes on for several years thereafter.
Patient feedback in the Internet
There are several sites, where some feedback can be found as real patient experiences and every now and then you can read in the newspaper a success story of a happy patient.
