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Pacemakers and Syncope

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Cardiac Pacing for the Clinician

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Syncope is the abrupt and transient loss of consciousness due to a temporary reduction in cerebral blood flow. It is associated with an absence of postural tone and followed by a rapid and usually complete recovery. Syncope may be both benign or the only warning before an episode causing sudden death (1). Recurrent episodes of syncope may result from a variety of disorders, all of which cause a temporary reduction in cerebral blood flow sufficient to disturb the normal functions of the brain. Neurocardiogenic (vasovagal) syncope is the most common of a group of reflex (neurally mediated) syncopes, characterized by a sudden failure of the autonomic nervous system (ANS) to maintain blood pressure, and occasionally heart rate, at a level sufficient to maintain cerebral perfusion and consciousness (2–4). Syncope accounts for 3.5% of all emergency room visits and 1–6% of all hospital admissions annually in the USA (5).

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  1. Department of Medicine, University of Toledo, Toledo, OH, USA

    Ehab A. Eltahawy MD & Blair P. Grubb MD

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  1. Ehab A. Eltahawy MD
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  2. Blair P. Grubb MD
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  1. Mayo Clinic, 32224, Jacksonville, FL, USA

    Fred M. Kusumoto MD

  2. University of California San Francisco School of Medicine, San Francisco, CA, USA

    Nora F. Goldschlager MD

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© 2008 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC

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Eltahawy, E.A., Grubb, B.P. (2008). Pacemakers and Syncope. In: Kusumoto, F.M., Goldschlager, N.F. (eds) Cardiac Pacing for the Clinician. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-72763-9_13

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-72763-9_13

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA

  • Print ISBN: 978-0-387-72762-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-0-387-72763-9

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