PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Sandra V Kotsis
AU  - Kevin C Chung
TI  - A systematic review of the outcomes of digital sympathectomy for treatment of chronic digital ischemia.
DP  - 2003 Aug 01
TA  - The Journal of Rheumatology
PG  - 1788--1792
VI  - 30
IP  - 8
4099  - http://www.jrheum.org/content/30/8/1788.short
4100  - http://www.jrheum.org/content/30/8/1788.full
SO  - J Rheumatol2003 Aug 01; 30
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To determine the effectiveness of digital sympathectomy for treatment of chronic digital ischemia, to provide information on outcomes of this surgical procedure, and to give recommendations for further investigations. METHODS: We conducted a systematic review of English language citations referring to digital sympathectomy published between 1966 and 2002 using Premedline and Medline. RESULTS: Multiple differences in surgical techniques, causes of digital ischemia, and outcome measurements among studies made comparisons of surgical outcomes difficult. We found that 14% of all patients required amputation and 18% of patients had ulcer recurrence. Some type of postoperative complication was reported in 37% of patients with systemic sclerosis. CONCLUSION: To best determine the effectiveness of this surgical procedure, we recommend that future studies are prospective, to include standardized pre- and postoperative measurements, stratify the study outcomes by diagnosis and disease duration, and have consistent postoperative followup intervals.