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HowToPreventHeartDisease.com |
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Syncope Can Be A Sign Of Heart Disease! Commonly known as fainting or passing out, syncope is a sudden loss of consciousness, often temporarily. The condition can happen in people, at any age, with and without other medical problems. It is a common condition that affects 3 percent of men and 3.5 percent of women at some point in life. Syncope occurs more among older folks and it affects up to 6 percent of people over the age of 75. People having syncope may have symptoms like falling down, feeling lightheaded, dizzy, drowsy or unsteady, blurred vision, headache, confusion. It can be benign or a symptom of an underlying medical condition. In most cases, syncope is a transient condition that is trigged by non-life-threatening factors like overheating, dehydration, heavy sweating, exhaustion or the pooling of blood in the legs due to sudden changes in body position. As long as syncopal episode itself has not caused any serious injury, the event should not have long-term significant. Syncope can sometimes be a sign that a dangerous or even life-threatening underlying medical condition may be present. For example, syncope can be result of an underlying heart disease. Roughly 1 in 4 people with syncope will prove to have a cardiac cause. Heart problems that can partially obstruct the flow of blood through the heart and cardiac arrhythmias are 2 general heart disorders that could produce syncope.
When the blood flow through the heart is
obstructed, the amount of blood the heart is pumping is reduced and hence
causing the brain to receive sufficient blood flow. Several heart disorders can
partially block the flow of blood through the heart include abnormalities of the
heart valves (aortic stenosis or pulmonic valve stenosis), high blood pressure
in the arteries supplying the lungs (pulmonary artery hypertension), tears in
the aorta (aortic dissection), widespread disease of the heart muscle (cardiomyopathy).
Arrhythmias are a much more common cause of syncope than are obstructive cardiac conditions. Almost any arrhythmia that can cause syncope can also cause sudden death, if the arrhythmia persists for several minutes. Arrhythmias can reduce cardiac function by making the heart rate too slow, or by making it too fast. Bradycardia or slow heart arrhythmias can produce syncope simply by causing the heart to beat so slowly that the brain does not receive sufficient blood flow. If bradycardia is found to be the cause of syncope, and if the bradycardia is thought to be likely to recur, effective treatment can be provided by inserting a cardiac pacemaker. Tachycardia or rapid heart arrhythmias can also cause syncope by making the heart beat so rapidly that it can no longer pump effectively. While there are many different kinds of tachycardia, the most common types that lead to syncope are ventricular tachycardia and ventricular fibrillation. These particular arrhythmias are life-threatening and can lead to sudden death. Patients suspected of having cardiac syncope should see a cardiologist for proper treatment. With the help of medical history and a careful physical examination together with an electrocardiogram (ECG), the doctor should be able to determine whether the syncope is any of the cardiac causes. If a heart condition is thought to be likely, the patient may need an immediate and focused cardiac evaluation that may include an echocardiogram, a stress test, or other diagnostic procedures. The doctor may even decide that the patient should be hospitalized for his or her own protection until a diagnosis is done, and appropriate treatment is given.
Fortunately, in most cases, a good initial medical
evaluation rules out a cardiac cause of syncope, and the doctor can then turn
the attention to the non-cardiac causes. In about one-third of patients, the
cause of syncope is unknown. Nevertheless, higher risk of syncope can be a side
effect for some medications.
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