Vasovagal Syncope

Clinical Study of Syncope During Acupuncture Treatment

“…Recent reports have emphasized the chronic sinoatrial bradycardia as a cause of syncope, cerebral dysfunction, and other symptoms of diminished cardiac output or regional blood flow (34). It is also suggested that, for patients with recurrent vasodepressor syncope or needle fainting, a careful history and physical examination should be obtained to rule out any underlying organic cause (20,40). Whether at this moment the bradycardia was of pathologic origin or not, Dighton in 1974 has pointed out that those patients with normal atrial pacemaker responses may have been subject to syncope of vasodepressor origin but not to other types such as Adams-Strokes (39).…”

“…However, for the specific category called vasodepressor syncope, fainting is characterized by a short duration warning penod (also called presyncope or near-syncope) resulting from a drop in arterial blood pressure, with the symptoms of impairment of loss of consciousness accompanied by variable degrees of autonomic overactivity as evidenced by pallor, cold sweating, epigastric discomfort, and bradycardia (19,20). In Western medicine, syncope is briefly defined as a sudden and transient loss of consciousness associated with an inability to maintain postural tone that is not compatible with a seizure disorder, vertigo, dizziness, coma, shock, or other altered state of consciousness.…”