Chest
Selected ReportsRecurrent Syncope for Over a Decade due to Idiopathic Ventricular Fibrillation
Section snippets
Case Report
A 35-year-old black man was referred to the Brooklyn Veterans Administration Medical Center for syncopal attacks after repeated unrewarding neurologic workup that included multiple electroencephalograms and two head computed tomographic (CT) scans.
For 10 years the patient was treated with phenytoin (Dilantin) in therapeutic dosage that he took regularly except during the period between 1983 to 1986 while serving in the Army in his effort to avoid medical restrictions. The syncopal episodes were
Discussion
Syncope is a symptom caused by a wide variety of diseases ranging from physiologic derangements with few consequences to diseases that may be life-threatening. Causes of syncope include neurocardiogenic syncope, orthostatic hypotension, drug-induced syncope, cerebrovascular diseases, hypersensitive carotid sinus, and cardiac diseases.1 The latter could be classified into mechanical or arrythmogenic causes. Cardiac mechanical causes of syncope include the following: obstruction to left
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Cited by (0)
Supported by Veterans Administration Medical Research Funds.