Thoracoscopic sympathectomy for Buerger's disease: a report on the successful treatment of four patients.

We describe herein the successful treatment of four patients with ischemic ulcers or gangrene of the fingers due to Buerger's disease by thoracoscopic sympathectomy, a new method of surgery which eliminates the difficulties associated with the traditional "open" approaches to the thoracic sympathetic chain, such as poor exposure, risk of damage to the adjacent structures, and postoperative pain. After the patients were placed in the lateral decubitus position with unilateral pulmonary ventilation, the thoracic sympathetic ganglia (T) from the lower third of T1 to T3 were resected endoscopically. The operative results were excellent, with improvement or complete resolution of the ulcer being achieved in all four patients. All of the patients were satisfied with the results in terms of ulcer healing, postoperative pain, and cosmetic appearance. Although a postoperative air leakage developed in one patient with a history of pulmonary tuberculosis, it was successfully treated with an adhesive agent. None of the patients developed Horner's syndrome. Thus, because thoracoscopic sympathectomy is easier to perform with a lower risk of complications than conventional thoracic sympathectomy, we recommend this operative approach as the procedure of choice for surgical thoracic sympathectomy.