Diagnostic orientation and risk stratification in syncope

Abstract

Syncope represents an important health issue due to the number of emergency room presentations as well as the costs associated either to patient evaluation, or to therapeutic means in certain situations. Despite recent endeavors to optimize the approach to a patient with syncope, this is still heterogeneous in day to day practice and inconsistencies with the current guidelines recommendations are still found. We use a case presentation of a cardiac syncope as a starting point in order to outline the initial evaluation and the serious adverse events risk stratification methods of a patient with syncope.

Keywords

• syncope
• risk stratifi cation
• score
• diagnosis