[Results of therapy following lumbar sympathectomy. A retrospective study over the course of 10 years].

In a retrospective study we report about 142 patients who had 159 lumbar sympathectomies from 1975-1985. The angiological status was evaluated with a clinical examination or a questionnaire. In 96% we saw the clinical stages III and IV. The clinic lethality was 3.5%. Besides the sympathectomies 62 reconstructive procedures were necessary which were performed mostly before the sympathectomy. The higher the occlusion resp. stenosis the worse the prognosis after sympathectomy. A postoperative abstinence of smoking improves the prognosis. The amputation rate was 35.8% including minor amputations (n = 20) and loss of the extremity (n = 37). The high number of minor amputations shows that the sympathectomy is an appropriate procedure to shift the amputation to the periphery. The older the patient the higher the amputation rate. The analysis of the clinical examination or the questionnaire shows that a third of the patients has a long-term profit from the sympathectomy.