How to Prevent, Reduce, and Treat Severe Post Sympathetic Chain Compensatory Hyperhidrosis: 2021 State of the Art

Long term outcomes and risk factors of compensatory hyperhidrosis after thoracoscopic sympathectomy in primary palmar hyperhidrosis patients: a retrospective single-center study

OBJECTIVE

This study aims to evaluate the long-term outcomes of compensatory hyperhidrosis (CH) after thoracoscopic sympathectomy and explore the risk factors affecting postoperative CH in primary palmar hyperhidrosis(PPH) patients.

METHOD

A retrospective analysis was conducted on patients who underwent thoracoscopic sympathectomy in the thoracic surgery department of our hospital from January 2015 to May 2022. Long-term follow-up surveys was conducted to collect data on post-operative satisfaction, PPH recurrence, and CH occurrence. Postoperative CH outcomes were assessed using the HDSS and satisfaction scores scale. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were used to identify independent risk factors for postoperative CH.

RESULT

A total of 152 patients was included in the final study, with 113 cases in the CH group and 39 cases in the nCH group. The incidence of postoperative CH was 74.3% (113/152), within which 33.6% (38/113) were severe CH. The median follow-up time was 3.1 years(2.5-5.5y) and the median interval of CH onset after surgery was 30 days (14-90d). Univariate analysis showed that body mass index(BMI), surgical time, and transected nerve level are correlated with CH, with statistically significant differences. Multivariate logistic regression analysis indicated a higher BMI (OR = 0.864, 95% CI 0.755-0.989, P < 0.05) is the independent risk factor for the occurrence of CH. There was no statistically significant difference in HDSS scores among CH patients at 1 month, 1 year, and 3 years after surgery.

CONCLUSION

A higher BMI is the independent risk factor for postoperative CH after thoracoscopic sympathectomy. The incidence and severity of postoperative CH kept stable during a long term follow up.

Changes in electrodermal activity following sympathicotomy in hyperhidrosis patients

Objectives

The aim of this study was to assess the potential of electrodermal activity (EDA) as a diagnostic tool for preoperative evaluation in hyperhidrosis patients. EDA levels and patterns in different skin areas were investigated before and after endoscopic thoracic sympathicotomy (ETS) and was compared to healthy subjects.

Methods

Thirty-seven patients underwent two days of measurements before and after the operation. Twenty-five (67.5%) of the patients also had a third measurement after six months. Non-invasive EDA measurements, involving skin conductance, were sampled from five different skin areas while patients were at rest in supine and sitting positions or when subjected to stimuli such as deep inspirations, mental challenge, and exposure to a sudden loud sound.

Results

Prior to the operation, hyperhidrosis patients showed higher spontaneous palm EDA variations at rest and stronger responses to stimuli compared to healthy subjects. Patients with facial blushing/hyperhidrosis or combined facial/palmar hyperhidrosis showed minimal spontaneous activity or responses, particularly during mental challenge and sound stimulus. Notably, palm EDA response was abolished shortly following sympathicotomy, although a minor response was observed after six months. Minimal EDA responses were also observed in the back and abdomen postoperatively.

Conclusion

Hyperhidrosis patients showed stronger EDA response to stimuli compared to healthy subjects. Sympathicotomy resulted in the complete elimination of palm EDA responses, gradually returning to a limited extent after six months. These findings suggest that EDA recordings could be utilized in preoperative assessment of hyperhidrosis patients.

Compensatory Hyperhidrosis After Non-Surgical Treatment of Primary Focal Hyperhidrosis: Two-Year Single-Centered Prospective Study From Jordan

BACKGROUND

Primary focal hyperhidrosis (PH) can be managed by a wide range of medical and surgical modalities. Compensatory hyperhidrosis (CH) is a well-documented complication of surgical treatment. We aimed to investigate the occurrence of compensatory hyperhidrosis (CH) in PH patients after nonsurgical treatment with botulinum toxin A (BTX- A) or iontophoresis.

METHODOLOGY

We carried out a unicentric prospective study on PH patients from King Abdullah University Hospital (KAUH) in Jordan. PH patients were evaluated after 1-month of nonsurgical treatment. Patients who developed CH were re-assessed after 3-6 months through a telephone-based interview.

RESULTS

A total of 86 patients with PH who underwent nonsurgical treatment with iontophoresis or botulinum toxin were recruited. Twenty-four (27.9%) patients developed subjective CH. It was mild in (75%), moderate in (21%), and severe in (4%) of patients affected, it was self-limiting within a few months in all patients. Patients with CH did not differ significantly in demographic or clinical variables from patients who did not develop CH except at the site of PH (p value = .05).

CONCLUSION

The findings of this study indicate that more than quarter (27.9%) of patients with PH may develop minor compensatory sweating, however this didn't affect satisfaction with treatment.

Machine learning analysis of primary hyperhidrosis for classification of hyperhidrosis type and prediction of compensatory hyperhidrosis

Background

Although sympathectomy is highly effective for improving symptom, compensatory hyperhidrosis (CH) is a major issue. In this study, characteristics of primary hyperhidrosis were investigated in terms of the heart rate variability (HRV) parameters. Classification of hyperhidrosis type and prediction of CH after sympathicotomy were also determined using machine learning analysis.

Methods

From March 2017 to December 2021, 128 subjects who underwent HRV tests before sympathicotomy were analyzed. T2 and T3 bilateral endoscopic sympathicotomy were routinely performed in patients with craniofacial and palmar hyperhidrosis, respectively. Data collected age, sex, body mass index (BMI), hyperhidrosis type, symptom improvement after sympathicotomy, the degrees of CH after sympathicotomy, and preoperative HRV findings. The independent risk factors associated with the degree of CH after sympathicotomy were investigated. Machine learning analysis was used to determine classification of hyperhidrosis type and prediction of the degree of CH.

Results

Preoperatively, patients with palmar hyperhidrosis presented with significantly larger standard deviation of normal-to-normal (SDNN), root mean square of successive differences (RMSSD), total power (TP), and low frequency (LF) than patients with craniofacial hyperhidrosis after controlling for age and sex (P=0.030, P=0.004, P=0.041, and P=0.022, respectively). More sympathetic nervous predominance was found in craniofacial type (P=0.019). Low degree of CH had significantly greater RMSSD (P=0.047), and high degree of CH showed more sympathetic nervous predominance (P=0.006). Multivariate analysis showed the type and expansion of sympathicotomy were significant factors for CH (P=0.001 and P=0.028, respectively). The neural network (NN) algorithm outperformed and showed a 0.961 accuracy, 0.961 F1 score, 0.961 precision, 0.961 recall, and 0.972 area under the curve (AUC) for classification of hyperhidrosis type. The random forest (RF) model outperformed showed a 0.852 accuracy, 0.853 F1 score, 0.856 precision, 0.852 recall, and 0.914 AUC for prediction of the degree of CH.

Conclusions

The present study showed the machine learning algorithm can classify types and predict CH after sympathicotomy for primary hyperhidrosis with considerable accuracy. Further large-scale studies are needed to validate the findings and provide management guidelines for primary hyperhidrosis.

Robotic Sympathectomy for Hyperhidrosis

In hyperhidrosis, the body's sweat glands overact. Excessive sweating results from this overactivity, and for many hyperhidrosis patients, managing symptoms can be difficult in day-to-day life. Both surgical and non-surgical types of treatment are available for hyperhidrosis. Surgical treatments include microwave sympathectomy (video-assisted thoracic surgery and robotic). Da Vinci Si and Xi robotic systems are used. This review summarizes the outcomes, complications, advantages, and disadvantages of robotic sympathectomy. We conducted a literature search using PubMed, Cochrane, and Scopus. After analyzing nine articles, we found that robotic sympathectomy decreased compensatory hyperhidrosis with similar outcomes to other procedures. Robotic sympathectomy also reduced complications of Horner syndrome and has changed minimally invasive surgery significantly due to the reduction in tremors by a surgeon's hands to three-dimensional magnified views. It can potentially address the limitations of human video-assisted sympathectomy. However, the higher cost of robotic surgery, longer perioperative time due to the setting up of the machine, and higher training requirements are some of the disadvantages. The advantages of robotic sympathectomy are a reduction in compensatory sweating, better dexterity, loss of tremors, better visualization, and better accuracy. Although the overall success rates seem to be similar between robotic and video-assisted approaches, more studies are needed.

Surgical management of compensatory sweating: A systematic review

Endoscopic thoracic sympathectomy (ETS) surgery is a highly effective treatment of primary hyperhidrosis (PH) for the palms, face, axillae. Compensatory sweating (CS) is the most common and feared side effect of thoracic sympathectomy. CS is a phenomenon characterized by increased sweating in sites distal to the level of sympathectomy. Compensatory sweating is the main problem for which many patients give up surgery, losing the chance to solve their problem and accepting a poor quality of life. There are still no treatments that offer reliable solutions for compensatory sweating. The treatments proposed in the literature are scarce, with low case histories, and with uncertain results. Factors associated with CS are extension of manipulation of the sympathetic chain, level of sympathetic denervation, and body mass index. Therapeutic options include non surgical treatment and surgical treatment. Non surgical treatments include topical agents, botulinum toxin, systemic anticholinergics, iontophoresis. Surgical treatments include clip removal, extended sympathectomy and sympathetic chain reconstruction, although the efficacy is not well-established for all the methods. In this review we provide an overview of the treatments and outcomes described in the literature for the management of compensatory CS, with focus on surgical treatment.