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Enlargement of the Breast—A New Side Effect of Transaxillary Cervical Sympathectomy: Case Report

Department of Surgery "B", Beilinson Medical Center, Petah Tikva, Israel

Eli Hauptman

Department of Surgery "B", Beilinson Medical Center, Petah Tikva, Israel

Avigdor Zelkovsky

Department of Surgery "B", Beilinson Medical Center, Petah Tikva, Israel

Raphael Reiss

Department of Surgery "B", Beilinson Medical Center, Petah Tikva, Israel

The phenomenon of hyperhidrosis is a pathological state caused by unknown stimulus of the sympathetic nervous system. When a variety of conservative treatments have failed, surgery which involves the removal of some ganglia of the cervical sympathetic chain, is the treatment of choice. In the last four years we operated on 253 patients for palmar hyperhidrosis using the transaxillary approach only.

Recently, a new side effect of surgery has come to our attention. This phe nomenon is enlargement of the breast on the operated side. Our series show seven cases (2.4%) of women operated for palmar hyperhidrosis who mani fested this phenomenon, two of them bilaterally. The enlargement of the breast was found usually by the second follow-up visit after operation when, in most cases, the patient mentioned it.

Examination of the breast revealed enlargement of a few centimeters which in several patients required a change to a larger brassiere size. In both of our patients who underwent bilateral surgery, the breasts enlarged until they were equal in size. The women then did not complain further. In our article we de scribe the cases of two young women with this phenomenon for which we still do not have a clear explanation of the phenomenon, but report our assumption only.

Vascular and Endovascular Surgery, Vol. 20, No. 1, 50-54 (1986)
DOI: 10.1177/153857448602000109


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