Die Another Day

A 22-year-old healthy male university student presented to the emergency department (ED) complaining of syncope. He had five episodes of loss of consciousness from 10 to 40 seconds in length, with loss of postural tone and full recovery without intervention in the last month. Witnesses to these events denied tonic-clonic activity, and he had no sphincter tone loss. On the index ED visit the patient was in good condition, without distress. Primary survey was normal, he denied chest pain, dyspnea or headache. He had no history of tobacco or illicit drug use, and was a moderate social drinker. Secondary survey was unremarkable. Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile, Department of Emergency Medicine, Santiago, Chile Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California *