How much do you know about syncope?

  Syncope is a common pediatric emergency due to transient lack of cerebral blood supply resulting in transient consciousness with inability to maintain an autonomous body position, and is a group of disorders affecting the physical and mental health of children caused by a variety of etiologies. An epidemiological survey in the United States showed that the incidence of syncope in children was 71.9/100,000 in the 1950s and increased to 125.8/100,000 in the late 1980s and early 1990s, and studies have shown that about 15% of children and adolescents before the age of 18 have had at least one syncope.  The common causes of pediatric syncope are neurally mediated syncope (vasovagal syncope, upright hypotension, etc.), cardiogenic syncope, neurogenic syncope, and metabolic disorders. Less than 20% of all syncope patients can be confirmed by conventional means such as CT scan, color ultrasound, electroencephalogram and electrocardiogram. The remaining 80% of children have unexplained syncope and do not receive timely treatment, and some children are misdiagnosed as other diseases most often as d-epilepsy, myocarditis, cerebrovascular spasm, gastritis, etc., and are given unnecessary treatment.  In Beijing, Shanghai and several key children’s hospitals in Hubei, 81% of the children can be diagnosed by setting up syncope clinics and conducting upright tilt tests, 80% of which are due to vasovagal syncope. The common symptoms in this group of children are headache, dizziness, nausea, blurred vision, change in facial color, chest tightness, palpitations, long breath, tiredness and morning sickness, and in severe cases, syncope.  In the syncope clinic, one of the important tests is called the upright tilt test. There are two types of upright tilt tests, one is the basic upright tilt test and the other is the drug (nitroglycerin)-induced upright tilt test. The upright tilt test (HUT) is currently recognized as the main method for diagnosing and differentially diagnosing patients with VVS at home and abroad.  The scope of the syncope clinic includes the following symptoms: headache, dizziness, nausea, profuse gasping, and sigh-like breathing, fatigue and weakness unrelated to exertion, panic and shortness of breath, chest tightness, shortness of breath, posture-related blurred vision, black haze, vertigo, abdominal pain, vomiting, nausea, pallor, and profuse sweating. It is the most common complaint in outpatient visits and the most headache for doctors, because these symptoms feel very unbearable to patients and physical examination and various auxiliary tests have no positive results. With the upright tilt test, a clear diagnosis can be made in 80% of these people.