Chemical thoracic sympathectomy for Raynaud's phenomenon: Report of 73 cases / 中国微创外科杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To summarize the experience of fluoroscopy-guided chemical thoracic sympathectomy(CTS) for the treatment of Raynaud's phenomenon.Methods A series of 73 cases of Raynaud's phenomenon(141 upper limbs) treated with CTS from March 2001 to September 2005 in this hospital was chronologically divided into two groups the Group A between March 2001 and December 2002 and the Group B between January 2003 and September 2005.In the Group A,under the guidance of X-ray fluoroscopy,a needle was punctured through the back skin to the second or the third thoracic sympathetic ganglion beside the thoracic vertebrae and 2 ml of 5% phenol was injected.In the Group B,when the needlepoint reached the rear edge of target thoracic vertebra,2~3 ml of anesthetic was injected.Then the needle was advanced sequentially untill the needlepoint reached the sympathetic ganglion.Other manipulation was the same with the Group A. Results The incidence of pneumothorax in the Group A(28.4%,19/67) exceeded greatly that in the Group B(4.1%,3/74)(?~2=15.773,P=0.000).The effective rate in the Group A(77.6%,52/67) was much lower than that in the Group B(97.3%,72/74)(?~2=12.851,P=0.000).Between the two groups,differences of the incidence of axilla pain(Group A,2 limbs;Group B,5 limbs)(?~2=0.411,P=0.521),bradycardia(Group A,1 case;Group B,nil)(?~2=0.002,P=0.967),and Horner's syndrome(Group A,1 case;Group B,1 case)(?~2=0.000,P=1.000) were not statistically significant.Conclusions Pneumothorax is a common complication of chemical thoracic sympathectomy.Improvement of procedure can reduce the incidence of pneumothorax and increase the effective rate.