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Syncope

Updated
Passing out

Deep Dive

Going into detail on what this term means and how it relates to health guidelines. This article may be incomplete.

Loss of consciousness and motor tone due to lack of blood flow to the brain. Could be due to:

  1. Obstruction of blood flow to the brain such as with aortic stenosis, severe bilateral carotid artery disease which may require surgical or catheter based interventions to relieve this obstruction
  2. Pauses in the heart rhythm such that the heart fails to pump blood for several seconds, which may require a pacemaker
  3. Vasovagal reflexes causing either a slowing of heart rate coupled with a drop in blood pressure (most commonly a mixture of both)

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