Background: Although thoracoscopy sympathectomy is a successful therapy for primary hyperhidrosis of the hands, the specific form of operation that produces the greatest outcomes is still being debated.
Aim of the work: The purpose of this research was to compare the outcomes of thoracoscopic sympathectomy versus sympathotomy for the therapy of primary palmar hyperhidrosis in children and adolescents.
Patients and Methods: A randomized comparative prospective study involved forty patients diagnosed with primary palmer hyperhidrosis. All patients have been randomly allocated into 2 groups using the closed envelops method; group A, comprised of 20 patients, was managed by thoracoscopic sympathectomy and group B, comprised of 20 patients, was treated by thoracoscopic sympathotomy. All participants were subjected to full history taking, clinical assessment, routine preoperative laboratory investigations.
Results: In our study, group A had 10% postoperative complications and group B had 25%, with no statistically significant difference between the two groups at one week (P = 0.429). These complications were in the form of partial failure, pleuritic chest pain and wound infection. Also, there was no significant difference regarding recurrence as it happened in 2 cases (10%) in group B only (P = 0.487).
Conclusion: In terms of long- and short-term postoperative complications, sympathectomy and sympathotomy techniques were comparable. However, sympathectomy showed a significant higher satisfaction rate at 1, 3 and 6 months postoperative than sympathotomy.