“…Surgeons disagree as to the value of lumbar sympathectomy in the alleviation of ischaemic skin changes and rest pain. Unsatisfactory salvage rates have been published (Strandness, 1960, Theis, 1957; Fulton and Blakeley, 1968) but others (King et al , 1964) have reported results as encouraging as ours. There are several possible explanations for these different salvage rates, such as variation in patient selection, proportion of diabetics (Fulton, 1968), length of follow up and ineffectual sympathectomy.…”