Summary

An approach to the diagnosis and treatment of syncope in the emergency department

Sagristá Sauleda J

Affiliation of the authors

SERVEI DE CARDIOLOGIA. HOSPITAL UNIVERSITARI VALL D’HEBRON. BARCELONA

DOI

Quote

Sagristá Sauleda J. An approach to the diagnosis and treatment of syncope in the emergency department. Emergencias. 2007;19:273-82

Summary

Syncope, defined as a transient lost of conciousness with spontaneous

recovery in a short period of time due to an acute diminution

of cerebral blood flow, is a frequent cause of admission in the

emergency room. Syncope has multiple etiologies with very different

pronostic implications. The role of the emergency room physician is,

firstly, to differentiate syncope from nonsyncopal causes of lost of consciousness,

and, secondly, to try to establish the most probable etiological

diagnosis and its pronostic relevance by means of relatively simple

and easily available tools. In this paper we describe the pathophysiology

of syncope, its diagnostic approach and the criteria for hospital admission.

Finally, some therapeutic recommendations are provided.

 

More articles by the authors

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *