[Video-thoracoscopic sympathectomy in the treatment of Raynaud's disease and palmar hyperhidrosis]. / La simpaticectomia videotoracoscopica nel trattamento del morbo di Raynaud e dell'iperidrosi palmare.

BACKGROUND AND AIM: Raynaud's syndrome is a clinical entity characterised by episodic vascular spasm, digital ischemia in response to cold or emotional stimuli and hyperhidrosis. Many patients suffering from Raynaud's syndrome are successfully treated using medical therapy alone. Those patients who do not respond to medical treatment undergo surgery but the indications continue to be a source of controversy. A modern approach to thoracic sympathectomy requires a video-assisted technique. The aim of this study is to attempt to use mini-invasive type surgery to treat Raynaud's disease and hyperhidrosis in order to evaluate the real efficacy of thoracic sympathectomy in a large number of patients. The results of this method were compared for the two different pathologies in question. METHODS: The methodology used by this study is based on instrumental and clinical tests performed before and after surgery on treated patients using a comparative criterion and with a minimum 5-year follow-up. The pre- and postoperative diagnostic tests were performed by the vascular surgery laboratory and using a C.W. Doppler and a reflected light photoplethysmograph. Capillaroscopy and laboratory evaluations relating to secondary Raynaud's disease were carried out by internist type structures. The patients enrolled in the study responded to the following criteria: primary Raynaud's disease, palmar hyperhidrosis and associated syndromes. The population came from a mixed sociodemographic background, albeit within a strictly regional zone (Sardinia). A total of 42 patients were studied. The surgical technique used consisted of the ablation of thoracic ganglia from the 2nd to the 4th. RESULTS: The results showed a resolution of symptoms in 95% of patients treated for hyperhidrosis, whereas a 50% recidivation rate was observed in patients with Raynaud's disease alone, although symptoms were less intense. The results for Raynaud's disease were more disappointing, but it is important to remember that surgery is the ultimate choice for cases with advanced lesions which do not respond to medical treatment. Under these circumstances, the possibility of halting the evolution of the pathology represents an auspicious achievement. CONCLUSIONS: The authors affirm that mini-invasive surgical treatment of hyperhidrosis was resolutive during a mean follow-up of 3 years. It therefore represents a valid method which causes minimum esthetic damage to the patient and the greatest functional benefit. The postoperative period is short (about 3 days) and free of major complications. There is virtually no post-surgical pain.

[Medullar breast cancer, occult papillary carcinoma, pulmonary metastases: a case report]. / Carcinoma midollare della mammella, carcinoma papillifero occulto, metastasi polmonari. Case report.

The authors have carried out their study on a woman who previously underwent QU.A.R.T. because of a medullar breast cancer. She also had pulmonary metastases resistant to chemotherapy which were then resected by mini-invasive video-assisted thoracic surgery: it was so discovered that such lesions came from an occult papillary carcinoma of the thyroid gland originated in a multinodular goitre. This study has allowed the accomplishment of a right aetiologic and therapeutic classification of the patient.

[The role of surgery in the management of diffuse (N3) lung cancer]. / Il ruolo della chirurgia nella terapia del carcinoma polmonare diffuso (N3).

The aim of the paper is to give a contribution to the understanding of the role of surgery in patients with N3 lung cancer. The A. describe their results on 32 patients with N3 lung cancer operated on mediastinectomy; histological examination of the specimens showed 27 squamous cell carcinomas and 5 adenocarcinomas. The operation was performed through a median sternotomy to gain access to the left and right paratracheal nodes, pretracheal, precarinal and subcarinal nodes, subaortic and left and right hilar nodes that were removed together with the fat of the mediastinum. Left pneumonectomy was performed in 5 patients. There was no operative mortality; 12 patients were irradiated in the postoperative period with 5,000 Rads (50 Gy), while 18 or the 27 patients with squamous cell carcinoma are still alive.