title: Retroperitoneoscopic lumbar sympathectomy.
abstract: We present a series of 27 consecutive unselected patients who underwent 29 retroperitoneoscopic lumbar sympathectomies. There were 21 male patients and six female patients, with a mean age of 45 years (RANGE, 21 to 28 years). Twenty-two patients had ischemia of the lower limb, and five patients had severe reflex sympathetic dystrophy. The retroperitoneal space was developed with a balloon trocar inserted through a small incision in the flank. Additional trocars used for endoscopic instruments. The sympathetic chain from the ganglia second lumbar vertebrae to the fourth lumbar vertebrae was resected. The procedure was successfully accomplished in all the patients without any operative or postoperative complications. The mean operative time Was 136 minutes, and the mean hospital stay was 1.4 days. All the patients had significant improvement of pain or dystrophic changes. Retroperitoneoscopic lumbar sympathectomy successfully combines the advantages of minimally invasive surgery with the effectiveness of the open procedure.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Hadassah University Hospital Mount Scopus and the Hebrew University-Hadassah Medical School, Jerusalem, Israel.
authors.forename: Nahum
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Beglaibter
authors.forename: Yacov
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Berlatzky
authors.forename: Oded
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Zamir
authors.forename: Ram M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Spira
authors.forename: Herbert R
authors.initials: HR
authors.lastname: Freund
mesh_terms: D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007511:Ischemia / Q000601:surgery; D010535:Laparoscopy; D007866:Leg / Q000098:blood supply; D007902:Length of Stay / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012019:Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy / Q000601:surgery; D012187:Retroperitoneal Space; D013562:Sympathectomy / Q000379:methods*; D013997:Time Factors