U.S. Government Studies the Neurocardiologic Dysfunction of Sympathectomy Patients
A team of researchers at the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) considers sympathectomy to be a neurocardiologic disorder. Led by senior investigator David Goldstein, M.D. Ph.D., they have thusfar studied at least four sympathectomy patients, and have shown that the surgery causes what Goldstein terms "surgically induced autonomic failure".

I participated in the study in November, 2004. For five days I underwent a battery of tests, including PET scans, drug tests, sweat tests, a tilt-table test, EKG, and a lumbar puncture (spinal tap). Conclusions:

1. Partial cardiac denervation as a result of bilateral thoracic sympathectomies.

2. Complete absence of blood vessel constriction in the arms, as expected in thoracic sympathectomy.

3. Complete loss of sympathetic innervation to the thyroid.

4. Abnormal catecholamine levels in the spinal fluid.

Bear in mind that these researchers are only looking at a few of the many aspects of ETS dysfunction.
PET Scans

PET (positron emission tomography) works by flooding the bloodstream with radioactive flourodopamine. Once in the body, this substance will flow to cells which have intact sympathetic nerve function, allowing the detector to make a picture similar to an x-ray. On this type of PET scan, areas of sympathetic nerve activity will appear bright red and yellow, with surrounding tissue a much darker color.
This is my heart. The horseshoe-shaped area shows some working sympathetic activity around the left ventricle. But the surrounding mass should also show activity, and clearly it does not. Following my ETS, I complained to my surgeon that my heart would not pump hard with exercise, and would not respond to emotion. He told me that sympathectomy could not be the cause of these problems, and eventually wrote me a letter stating "Your cardiac complaints are a mystery to me".
In fact, low cardiac output after a sympathectomy in no mystery at all. The sympathetic nerves are responsible for delivering the message for the heart to speed up and pump harder. ETS cuts off some of those nerves.
This is my neck. The flashing butterfly shape shows the location of the thyroid gland, which will show up brightly in a normal scan. This indicates total sympathetic denervation of the thyroid, which prompted Dr. Goldstein to approach me as I lie in the PET scan machine and ask if I had had my thyroid removed (I haven't). Dr. Goldstein admits that we simply don't know what this means to me in terms of long term health consequences.
Many of the side effects for hypothyroidism are quite similar to those of ETS surgery.
"Sympathectomy patients show partial autonomic failure" explains Goldstein, "with autonomic function somewhere between a normal person and pure autonomic failure ".

Here is a graph showing how much of the radioactive isotopes have reached the target organs over time. The upper line of solid squares shows normal function, the lower line comprised of empty circles represents pure autonomic failure. Dots marked #1, #2, and #3 are for the three different sympathectomy patients.
Tilt Table Test
Blood vessels need to constrict and dilate for all sorts of reasons, including temperature and blood pressure regulation, and properly re-allocating blood into deep muscles during exercise. The tilt-table test is a simple yet effective method of evaluating this blood vessel constriction. A device that measures diameter is placed around the forearm while the patient lies horizontally on the table.
Then the table flips upright. Ordinarily the human body responds to standing up by constricting the blood vessels in the upper body so as to maintain proper blood pressure. In my test, after a minute of standing, the researchers measured no blood vessel constriction at all. I was feeling pretty lightheaded like I always do when I stand up.

This paralysis of blood vessel function is also predicted in ETS for hyperhidrosis, because the nerves that lead to the sweat glands are the exact same nerves that lead to the smooth muscle surrounding blood vessels.
Perhaps everyone considering ETS surgery should see this: the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Clinical Studies book, where sympathectomy is listed as a "Neurocardiologic Disorder", right along side Parkinson's Disease, etc.
I think it is fair to assume that of the thousands of people who have undergone sympathectomy for excessive sweating or facial blushing, few if any of them understood they were consigning themselves to a permanent autonomic system disorder. I certainly did not.
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