sympathectomy

1 9.9

Surgery that stops signals in certain nerves to treat health problems

noun
/ˌsɪmpəˈθɛk.tə.mi/

Specialized

: simpatectomía

Examples

One incomplete quadriplegic subject took 40 mg/day of Dibenzyline, which can produce and maintain "chemical sympathectomy" (37).

Academic text (1991)
Baboon studies showed that pharmacologic or surgical cardiac sympathectomy prevented brain-mediated cardiac injury after brain death induced by rapid increases in intracranial pressure.

Academic text (2016)
For this boarding way, adrenalectomy, nephrectomy, colposuspension, lumbar sympathectomy, and abdominal aorta aneurysm resection can be carried out with a recommendation grade B/C.

Academic text (2007)
The patient underwent a sympathectomy to relieve severe pain caused by a nerve disorder.
During the consultation, the surgeon explained that a sympathectomy could help treat her excessive sweating.
After discussing the risks and benefits, he decided to proceed with the sympathectomy as a treatment option.

Surface Forms

sympathectomy singular

sympathectomies plural

Morphology

sympathectomy = sympathetic (opaque) = sympath + ectomy

The word is formally built on the base 'sympathetic' plus the surgical suffix '-ectomy', but the specialized medical meaning is not readily predictable for most learners.

Etymology

Sympathectomy breaks into sympath-, from Greek for 'feeling with' and the same root as sympathy, and -ectomy, meaning 'cutting out' as in appendectomy. So a sympathectomy is literally a 'cutting out' of part of the sympathetic nerves, which is why it is a surgery that stops certain nerve signals.