Essential palmar hyperhidrosis (EPH) is a pathological condition of excessive sweating of the hands due to an unexplained over-activity of the T2 and T3 sympathetic fibers. Endoscopy Thoracoscopic Sympathectomy (ETS) is the treatment of choice in patients with EPH refractory to medical treatment . The cardiac sympathetic activity is mainly controlled by cervical sympathetic fibers but anatomic studies have showed that "accessory" fibers from the T2 and T3 sympathetic ganglia come to the heart and influence its function. Heart Rate Variability (HRV) is a simple and non-invasive method based on electrocardiogram to evaluate the sympathovagal balance at the sino-atrial level. Several studies have found that ETS caused a decrease of heart rate (HR), an increase of HR variability (HRV) and a shift of sympathovagal balance toward parasympathetic tone but remains unclear if these changes are associated with the extend of ETS. Thus, in the present study the investigator performed a prospective analysis of HRV function in patients with EPH undergoing different sympathetic denervations as sympathectomy and sympathicotomy with the hypothesis that cardiac autonomic changes could be associated with the extend of sympathetic resection.
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Heart Rate (HR) measured in beats/min
Timeframe: 7 days, 1, 3 and 6 months after operation