Vasodepressor syncope is the fulminant expression of the behavioral disorder "Blood-Injury Phobia". Vasodepressor syncope or the "common faint" is characterized by a diphasic autonomic hyperactivity that begins with anxiety and leads to a transient loss of consciousness. Recognition of the behavioral etiology of this disorder suggests the possibility of prevention through psychotherapy. Underst...

OBJECTIVES To investigate the etiology of transient loss of consciousness (T-LOC) suspected to be syncope and unexplained falls in elderly adults with dementia. DESIGN Prospective, observational, multicenter study. SETTING Acute care wards, syncope units or centers for the diagnosis of dementia. PARTICIPANTS Individuals aged 65 and older with a diagnosis of dementia and one or more episod...

BACKGROUND Differential diagnosis between syncope and epilepsy in patients with transient loss of consciousness of uncertain etiology is still unclear. Thus, the aim of the present work is to evaluate the prevalence of syncope in patients with "possible" or "drug-resistant" epilepsy. METHODS The Overlap between Epilepsy and SYncope Study (OESYS) is a multicenter prospective observational stud...

Syncope is a clinical syndrome defined as a relatively brief self-limited transient loss of consciousness (TLOC) caused by a period of inadequate cerebral nutrient flow. Most often the trigger is an abrupt drop of systemic blood pressure. True syncope must be distinguished from other common non-syncope conditions in which real or apparent TLOC may occur such as seizures, concussions, or acciden...

UNLABELLED Variant angina presenting acute chest pain and ST elevation on electrocardiogram accounts for an underdiagnosed scenario in acute coronary syndrome and contributes to syncope as a consequence of ventricular arrhythmia. Here, we report a case of a 48-year-old man with a recent onset of chest pain and palpitations followed by syncope. Holter monitoring documented 2 episodes of evolving...

UNLABELLED The investigation of unexplained syncope remains a challenging clinical problem. In the present study we sought to evaluate the diagnostic value of a standardized work-up focusing on non invasive tests in patients with unexplained syncope referred to a syncope clinic, and whether certain combinations of clinical parameters are characteristic of rhythmic and reflex causes of syncope. ...

Forty patients with recurrent syncopal episodes of uncertain etiology were evaluated with a 60-degree head-up tilt table test for 60 minutes. There were 21 men and 19 women, with a mean age of 36 +/- 19 years, a mean of 7.6 syncopal episodes per patient, and a mean duration of symptoms of 4.2 +/- 6 years. Twelve patients had evidence of organic heart disease. Ten control subjects with no histor...

The diagnosis of recurrent syncope in patients with pacemakers (PM) is quite challenging and the etiology of syncope is often multifactorial. To portray the mechanism of syncope in PM patients, we report the results of head-up tilt table testing (HUT) in a series of patients with PM, originally implanted for reasons other than neurally mediated syncope, referred due to syncope or pre-syncope (a...