Intercostal nerve reconstruction for compensatory hyperhidrosis: clinical outcomes of the “Gebitekin technique”

Gamze Tanrıkulu; Hüseyin Melek; Tolga Evrim Sevinç; Erhan Özer; Eylem Yentürk; Ahmet Sami Bayram; Cengiz Gebitekin

doi:10.26663/cts.2025.021

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Intercostal nerve reconstruction for compensatory hyperhidrosis: clinical outcomes of the “Gebitekin technique”

Gamze Tanrıkulu¹,Hüseyin Melek²,Tolga Evrim Sevinç³,Erhan Özer²,Eylem Yentürk⁴,Ahmet Sami Bayram²,Cengiz Gebitekin²

Current Thoracic Surgery 2025;10(3):114-123.

¹Department of Thoracic Surgery, Gülhane Training and Research Hospital, University of Health Sciences, Ankara, Türkiye
²Department of Thoracic Surgery, Faculty of Medicine, Uludag University, Bursa, Türkiye
³Clinical Research Center, Faculty of Medicine, Koç University, Istanbul, Türkiye
⁴Department of Thoracic Surgery, Yedikule Chest Diseases and Surgery Training and Research Hospital, Istanbul, Türkiye

DOI : 10.26663/cts.2025.021

Viewed : 3533 - Downloaded : 754

Background: Compensatory hyperhidrosis (CH) is the most common complication following endoscopic thoracic sympathectomy (ETS) and significantly impairs quality of life (QOL). This study assesses and compares the QOL before and after our minimal invasive intercostal nerve reconstruction technique (the “Gebitekin Technique”, GT) in CH patients.

Materials and Methods: Between January 2014 and November 2016, 32 consecutive CH patients underwent GT. Patients’ satisfaction levels and demographic parameters were self-assessed before surgery and six months postoperatively using the World Health Organization Quality of Life questionnaire (WHOQOL-BREF) and institutional questionnaires.

Results: A total of 64 surgeries were performed in 32 patients with a mean age of 32.5 ± 6.77 years. All patients who underwent GT responded to the questionnaires. Improvement of CH symptoms was observed in 24 (75%) patients, along with improvement in dryness in 60%. None of the patients had recurrence of primary hyperhidrosis. Significant (p < 0.05) improvements were observed in all survey sub-areas following surgery.

Conclusion: This study demonstrates that GT improves QOL and alleviates related symptoms in the overwhelming majority of patients with CH.

Keywords : compensatory hyperhidrosis, intercostal nerve reconstruction, survey, quality of life, Gebitekin technique