[Sympathectomy by phenol infiltration in the treatment of chronic obliterative arteriopathies of the lower limbs. Comparison between 60 statistical cases and 35 surgical sympathectomies (author's transl)].

The authors compare the results obtained by the use of two different lumbar sympathectomy techniques in patients with chronic obliterative arterial disease of the lower limbs. Surgical resection was employed in 35 cases, and infiltration with phenol under radiological control in 60 cases. The proportion of successful results was about the same in both groups, best results being obtained in younger patients with less advanced disease. No mortality occurred in the group treated by phenol infiltration. Transient neuralgia was reported in some cases, but hospital stay was reduced by an average of 10 days, and many cases could be treated as out-patients. More than half of the patients did not require operation or amputation after phenol infiltration, which is, therefore, a very valuable associated therapeutic measure, especially in the elderly.