Hey, it at least shows SOME acknowledgement among some doctors out there. Whether it is actually a generally accepted medical term remains to be seen. These ETS surgeons would never mention it to you (the patient) as it would hurt their bottom line. Apparently, alot of doctors do not even know what sympathectomy is. My pain specialist that I'm going to isn't even familiar with the procedure (so he says), let alone any side effects caused by it. He said to me that in all his years he has never had a single patient who had sympathectomy done. I had to explain it to him. But then again, he was amazingly confident that it was not the source of my problems - how could he be so sure with out investigating the matter to rule it out completely. It is easier for him to blame it on something else and hand me a bottle of pills. I'm going to bring up that term to him and see what his reaction is.