Since the first bilateral supradiaphragmatic splanchnicectomy and lower dorsal sympathetic ganglionectomy was performed by one of us (M. M. P.) in November 1933, more than 1,500 patients have received this surgical treatment for essential hypertension at the University Hospital as of September 1945. Surgical treatment has long been accepted here as an integral part of the therapeutic armamentarium for hypertensive disease. Its acceptance has been tempered with the realization that its limitations are definite, that its failures are not uncommon. Rarely does surgical treatment result in a cure of hypertensive disease, but it has given remarkable benefit and prolonged the life of many hypertensive patients. Reports of the results of surgical treatment in hypertensive disease are numerous. For the most part they are concerned with small groups followed postoperatively for a relatively short time. The largest series of cases previously reported is that of Peet, Woods and Braden,1 with