Retrospective-observational study on syncope

Abstract

Management of patients presenting in the Emergency Department for a possible syncope is still very challenging for the emergency physician, especially for what concerns the decision whether to admit or discharge the patient. Besides, in spite of thorough clinical and diagnostic evaluation, many syncopal episodes remain of unknown origin. Aims of the study were: to assess which elements influence the emergency physician in the decision of admitting or discharging the patient; to contact the patients to evaluate if there have been other syncopal events or major events during the period of follow up; to compare our data to other databases in literature in order to understand the existing differences: to one hand we had less admissions without major adverse events during the follow up, to the other hand we had a probably undervalued percentage of cardiogenic syncopes and a still high percentage of syncopes of unknown origin.