Some Clinical Neurological Aspects of Syncope

Abstract

The etiology of syncope, defined as a transitory loss of consciousness due to a temporary fall of cerebral blood flow, is usually easy to recognize. In about 90% of the cases it is due to various well-known reflex mechanisms [2]. Consequently, such patients are normally taken care of by general practitioners. However, when the etiology is unknown, and the circumstances of the syncope are uncertain, the diagnostic problems might be a great challenge to the medical staff. For neurologists the most frequent problem in that respect is to distinguish syncopes from attacks of neurological nature—particularly epileptic seizures. This short survey presents some of the most important aspects of neurological differential diagnoses of syncope (Table 1).