Lumbo-dorsal Sympathectomy in Severe Hypertension

Abstract

The treatment of hypertension by resectnon of the dorso- lumbar sympathetic nervous system has been practised for many years in the United States, where there is already an extensive literature on the subject. This literature has been reviewed elsewhere (Blodgett and Cutler, 1947; Bassett, 1948). It is only recently, however, that this treatment has attracted any great interest in this country. It might be helpful, therefore, to review a series of consecutive cases operated on at Westminster Hospital. The number-24 cases-is not large, and any conclusions can be only of a tentative nature. However, all these cases had been fully investigated before operation and have been carefully observed since, and an idea of the value of this form of treatment has begun to emerge.