A
Aluminum - A natural metal used in treatments, like Drysol, to
control sweating by plugging sweat pores.
Antiperspirants - Commercial preparations available over the counter
to help with normal (physiological) armpit sweating.
Apocrine gland – One of two sweat glands located in the groin,
armpit and facial regions that produced more oily instead of watery secretions.
Auxiliary Sweating - A physiological mechanism that secretes sweat
under normal conditions.
B
Botox - Commercial name for a product made from botulism toxin,
which can help with hyperhidrosis.
Bromhidrosis - Medical term to describe excessive auxiliary sweating
that is dark in color and produces an odor.
C
Clipping – Also known as clamping, a medical term
used to describe one sympathectomy procedure. Titanium clips are applied
to the sympathetic nerve to block nerve impulse transmission. Unlike cutting,
which destroys the sympathetic chain, clipping allows for surgical reversal.
Compensatory Sweating (CS) - Medical term to describe sweating
on parts of the body that otherwise would not sweat so much. It is one side
affect of sympathectomy affecting most or all patients.
Cutting - Term used in sympathectomy surgery where the nerve is
destroyed by electrocautery, harmonic scalpel, or excising a nerve segment.
D
Diaphoresis - Medical term for profuse sweating. It can be normal
(physiologic) by occurring through physical activity, emotional response
or high environmental temperature, or can be a symptom of an underlying
disease (pathologic).
Dress Shield - A pad of material that protects the armpit of an
undergarment from sweat and sweat stains.
Drionic - A commercial name for an iontophoresis machine, which
runs low voltage electric currents through the skin to disrupt the function
of the sweat glands.
Drysol – A prescription preparation made of aluminum chloride
in alcohol used for treating moderate to severe armpit sweating. Aluminum
component plug the sweat pores.
E
Eccrine Gland - The millions of glands through out the body that
produces watery sweat.
Electrocautery - Term used by surgeons to describe a method to
destroy or coagulate blood vessels or tissue.
Endoscopic - Medical term describing a surgical procedure performed
with the aid of optical instruments. Endoscopic surgery involves small cuts
to avoid extensive tissue damage and to promote quick recovery.
Erythrophobia – A social phobia, where a one reacts with
severe facial blushing to an otherwise harmless social interaction.
ETS – Short for Endoscopic Thoracic Sympathectomy. Medical
term describing a surgical procedure where the sympathetic chain is being
destroyed, cut or clamped.
F
Flushing – Used to describe the heat sensation patients feel
in the head area.
G
Ganglia - Mass of nerve tissue or a group of nerve cell bodies.
In sympathectomy terms it relates to the area above the ribs that connects
one sympathetic cell to another.
Gustatory Sweating - Side affect patients can develop after sympathectomy
that involves facial sweating after eating sour or spicy foods.
H
Hemothorax - Medical term describing a situation where free blood
existing in the chest cavity. This can happen during trauma or during an
operation. Usually inserting a chest tube solves the problem.
Horner Syndrome – A rare complication resulting from a sympathectomy
characterized by a mild drooping of the upper eyelid, narrowing of the pupil,
and mild dryness of the eyeball. This resulted more during an open sympathectomy
than an endoscopic procedure.
Hyperhidrosis - Excessive perspiration in the face, hands and feet
defined that is more than necessary to regulate the body’s temperature.
I & J – No Relevant Terms
K
Kuntz Nerve - Named after Dr. A Kuntz, who performed anatomical
studies in cats, which found nerve fibers connecting the sympathetic nerve
to other nerves within the chest cavity. While, these particular anatomical
findings were not found in humans, the term was applied to sympathectomy
literature and is blamed for failures or reoccurrences in cases when a sympathectomy
is performed for hyperhidrosis.
L & M – No Relevant Terms
N
Neurotransmitters - A human body chemical structure that is secreted
upon certain nerve stimuli, and acts as a catalyst to biochemical or nerve
action.
Nerve Graft - Medical term used in cases where nerves are severed
and then nerve pieces from other body areas are applied to the missing segment.
In sympathectomy literature, this term describes a procedure where a nerve
graft is taken from the ankle region to replace the missing sympathetic
trunk
O – No Relevant Terms
P
Palmar Hyperhidrosis - Also known as excessive sweating of the
hands.
Parasympathetic - The involuntary component of the nervous system.
Also called the autonomous nervous system.
Perspiration - A physiological mechanism that regulates the human
body’s heat exchange.
Plantar Sweating - Excessive sweating in the feet.
Pneumothorax – Medical term describing the presence of air
inside the chest cavity, between the lung and the chest wall caused traumatically
by broken ribs or an object puncture or cased during an operation when the
lung is injured. It can be treated with a chest tube.
Q – No Relevant Terms
R
Robinul - Medication that stimulates the sweat glands and helps
in mild cases of palmar hyperhidrosis.
Rosacea - A pathological skin condition in which facial skin texture
and quality is damaged because of broken blood vessels in the facial area.
S
Sympathectomy - Part of the autonomous nervous system made of sympathectomy
cells that originate in the spinal cord and form a chain ganglia, which
are connected to each other and run within the chest cavity on top of the
ribs.
T
T2 T3 T4 levels - Used by ETS surgeons to denote the level (T2
stands for second rib level, T3 for the third rib level) of the sympathetic
chain that is being cut, coagulated or clipped.
Titanium Clips – An inert material that does not cause infection
or allergic reaction applied on blood vessels or nerves to stop bleeding
or cease nerve stimuli.
U, V, W, X, Y & Z – No Relevant Terms