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The European Society of Cardiology issued updated syncope guidelines in 2018 which included recommendations for managing syncope in the emergency department (ED) setting. However, these guidelines lack detailed process-oriented instructions regarding the fact that ED syncope patients initially present with a transient loss of consciousness (TLOC), which can have a broad spectrum of causes. This study aims to establish a European consensus on the general process of the workup and care for patients with suspected syncope and provides rules for sufficient and systematic management of the broad group of syncope (initially presenting as TLOC) patients in the ED. A variety of European diagnostic and therapeutic standards for syncope patients were reviewed and summarized in three rounds of a modified Delphi process by the European Society for Emergency Medicine syncope group. Based on a consensus statement, a detailed process pathway is created. The primary outcome of this work is the presentation of a universal process pathway for the structured management of syncope patients in European EDs. The here presented extended event process chain (eEPC) summarizes and homogenizes the process management of European ED syncope patients. Additionally, an exemplary translation of the eEPC into a practice-based flowchart algorithm, which can be used as an example for practical use in the ED, is provided in this work. Syncope patients, initially presenting with TLOC, are common and pose challenges in the ED. Despite variations in process management across Europe, the development of a universally applicable syncope eEPC in the ED was successfully achieved. Key features of the consensus and eEPC include ruling out life-threatening causes, distinguishing syncope from nonsyncopal TLOCs, employing syncope risk stratification categories and based on this, making informed decisions regarding admission or discharge., (Copyright © 2024 The Author(s). Published by Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc.)

Background and Importance: In 2018, the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) produced syncope guidelines that for the first-time incorporated Emergency Department (ED) management. However, very little is known about the characteristics and management of this patient group across Europe., Objectives: To examine the prevalence, clinical presentation, assessment, investigation (ECG and laboratory testing), management and ESC and Canadian Syncope Risk Score (CSRS) categories of adult European ED patients presenting with transient loss of consciousness (TLOC, undifferentiated or suspected syncope)., Design: Prospective, multicentre, observational cohort study., Settings and Participants: Adults (≥18 years) presenting to European EDs with TLOC, either undifferentiated or thought to be of syncopal origin., Main Results: Between 00:01 Monday, September 12th to 23:59 Sunday 25 September 2022, 952 patients presenting to 41 EDs in 14 European countries were enrolled from 98 301 ED presentations (n = 40 sites). Mean age (SD) was 60.7 (21.7) years and 487 participants were male (51.2%). In total, 379 (39.8%) were admitted to hospital and 573 (60.2%) were discharged. 271 (28.5%) were admitted to an observation unit first with 143 (52.8%) of these being admitted from this. 717 (75.3%) participants were high-risk according to ESC guidelines (and not suitable for discharge from ED) and 235 (24.7%) were low risk. Admission rate increased with increasing ESC high-risk factors; 1 ESC high-risk factor; n = 259 (27.2%, admission rate=34.7%), 2; 189 (19.9%; 38.6%), 3; 106 (11.1%, 54.7%, 4; 62 (6.5%, 60.4%), 5; 48 (5.0%, 67.9%, 6+; 53 (5.6%, 67.9%). Furthermore, 660 (69.3%), 250 (26.3%), 34 (3.5%) and 8 (0.8%) participants had a low, medium, high, and very high CSRS respectively with respective admission rates of 31.4%, 56.0%, 76.5% and 75.0%. Admission rates (19.3-88.9%), use of an observation/decision unit (0-100%), and percentage high-risk (64.8-88.9%) varies widely between countries., Conclusion: This European prospective cohort study reported a 1% prevalence of syncope in the ED. 4 in 10 patients are admitted to hospital although there is wide variation between country in syncope management. Three-quarters of patients have ESC high-risk characteristics with admission percentage rising with increasing ESC high-risk factors., (Copyright © 2023 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background and Objectives : Knowledge of the incidence and time frames of the adverse events of patients presenting syncope at the ED is essential for developing effective management strategies. The aim of the present study was to perform a meta-analysis of the incidence and time frames of adverse events of syncope patients. Materials and Methods : We combined individual patients' data from prospective observational studies including adult patients who presented syncope at the ED. We assessed the pooled rate of adverse events at 24 h, 72 h, 7-10 days, 1 month and 1 year after ED evaluation. Results : We included nine studies that enrolled 12,269 patients. The mean age varied between 53 and 73 years, with 42% to 57% females. The pooled rate of adverse events was 5.1% (95% CI 3.4% to 7.7%) at 24 h, 7.0% (95% CI 4.9% to 9.9%) at 72 h, 8.4% (95% CI 6.2% to 11.3%) at 7-10 days, 10.3% (95% CI 7.8% to 13.3%) at 1 month and 21.3% (95% CI 15.8% to 28.0%) at 1 year. The pooled death rate was 0.2% (95% CI 0.1% to 0.5%) at 24 h, 0.3% (95% CI 0.1% to 0.7%) at 72 h, 0.5% (95% CI 0.3% to 0.9%) at 7-10 days, 1% (95% CI 0.6% to 1.7%) at 1 month and 5.9% (95% CI 4.5% to 7.7%) at 1 year. The most common adverse event was arrhythmia, for which its rate was 3.1% (95% CI 2.0% to 4.9%) at 24 h, 4.8% (95% CI 3.5% to 6.7%) at 72 h, 5.8% (95% CI 4.2% to 7.9%) at 7-10 days, 6.9% (95% CI 5.3% to 9.1%) at 1 month and 9.9% (95% CI 5.5% to 17) at 1 year. Ventricular arrhythmia was rare. Conclusions : The risk of death or life-threatening adverse event is rare in patients presenting syncope at the ED. The most common adverse events are brady and supraventricular arrhythmias, which occur during the first 3 days. Prolonged ECG monitoring in the ED in a short stay unit with ECG monitoring facilities may, therefore, be beneficial.

Background: Risk stratification is challenging in conditions, such as chest pain, shortness of breath and syncope, which can be the manifestation of many possible underlying diseases. In these cases, decision tools are unlikely to accurately identify all the different adverse events related to the possible etiologies. Attribute matching is a prediction method that matches an individual patient to a group of previously observed patients with identical characteristics and known outcome. We used syncope as a paradigm of clinical conditions presenting with aspecific symptoms to test the attribute matching method for the prediction of the personalized risk of adverse events., Methods: We selected the 8 predictor variables common to the individual-patient dataset of 5 prospective emergency department studies enrolling 3388 syncope patients. We calculated all possible combinations and the number of patients in each combination. We compared the predictive accuracy of attribute matching and logistic regression. We then classified ten random patients according to clinical judgment and attribute matching., Results: Attribute matching provided 253 of the 384 possible combinations in the dataset. Twelve (4.7%), 35 (13.8%), 50 (19.8%) and 160 (63.2%) combinations had a match size ≥50, ≥30, ≥20 and <10 patients, respectively. The AUC for the attribute matching and the multivariate model were 0.59 and 0.74, respectively., Conclusions: Attribute matching is a promising tool for personalized and flexible risk prediction. Large databases will need to be used in future studies to test and apply the method in different conditions., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Syncope is a common reason for ED attendance and it presents a major management challenge with regard to the appropriate workup and disposition. Nearly 50% of patients are admitted, and for many this is unnecessary; clinical decision rules have not proven to decrease unnecessary admissions. The European Society of Cardiology has recently developed guidance for managing syncope in the ED. This article highlights the key steps in evaluating syncope in the ED, factors involved in determining risk of a cardiac cause, and considerations for admission, observation or discharge., Competing Interests: Competing interests: MJR was a Task Force member for the diagnosis and management of syncope guidelines of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) published in March 2018. MJR has been supplied with Zio XT monitors and ECG analysis services free of charge for research purposes from iRhythm Technologies between 2015 and 2017. MJR has received funds for consultation from Medtronic in 2018. The Emergency Medicine Research Group Edinburgh has received sponsorship for the EMERGE10 conference in 2018 from various companies including Medtronic, AliveCor and iRhythm Technologies., (© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2019. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.)

Background: Palpitations and pre-syncope are together responsible for 300,000 annual Emergency Department (ED) attendances in the United Kingdom (UK). Diagnosis of the underlying rhythm is difficult as many patients are fully recovered on ED arrival; and examination and presenting electrocardiogram (ECG) are commonly normal. The only way to establish the underlying heart rhythm is to capture an ECG during symptoms. Recent technology advances have led to several novel ECG monitoring devices appearing on the market. This trial aims to compare the symptomatic rhythm detection rate at 90 days of one such smart phone-based event recorder (AliveCor Heart Monitor and AliveECG) with standard care for participants presenting to the ED with palpitations and pre-syncope and no obvious cause in the ED., Methods/design: This is a multi-centre hospital ED / Acute Medical Unit (AMU) open label, randomised controlled trial. Participants will be recruited in 10 tertiary and district general hospitals in the UK. Participants aged ≥ 16 years presenting with an episode of palpitations or pre-syncope with no obvious cause and whose underlying ECG rhythm during these episodes remains undiagnosed after clinical assessment will be included. Participants will be randomised to either: (1) the intervention arm, standard care plus the use of a smart phone-based event recorder; or (2) the control arm, standard care. Primary endpoint will be symptomatic rhythm detection rate at 90 days. A number of secondary clinical, process and cost-effectiveness endpoints will be collected and analysed. Analysis will be on an intention-to-treat basis., Discussion: The Investigation of Palpitations in the ED (IPED) study aims to recruit 242 participants across 10 hospital sites. It will be the first study to investigate the ability of a smart phone-based event recorder to detect symptomatic cardiac rhythms compared to standard care for ED patients with palpitations and pre-syncope with no obvious cause in the ED. This smart phone event recorder will allow ED patients who have presented with palpitations or pre-syncope to record their ECG tracing if they have a further episode and may increase the rate of underlying rhythm diagnosis., Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT02783898 . Registered on 26 May 2016.

Objectives: Diagnosing underlying arrhythmia in ED syncope patients remains problematic. This study investigates diagnostic yield, event prevalence, patient satisfaction and compliance, and influence on resource utilisation of an ambulatory patch monitor in unexplained ED syncope patients., Methods: Prospective pilot study conducted in a single tertiary ED in Scotland between 17 November 2015 and 16 June 2017 with a historical unmatched comparator group. Patients 16 years or over presenting within 6 hours of unexplained syncope were fitted in the ED with an ambulatory patch ECG recorder (Zio XT monitor), which continuously records a single-lead ECG for up to 14 days. Patients with an obvious underlying cause were excluded. An unmatched historical group of 603 syncope patients with no obvious diagnosis in ED, recruited to a prior cohort study (2007-2008), were used as a comparator. Primary endpoint was symptomatic significant arrhythmia at 90-day follow-up., Results: During the prospective study period, 86 patients were recruited. 90-day diagnostic yield for symptomatic significant arrhythmia was 10.5% (95% CI 4.0 to 16.9; 9 of 86) versus 2.0% (95% CI 0.9 to 3.1; 12 of 603) in the comparator group. 24 patients (27.9%) had a significant arrhythmia (five serious); 26 patients (30.2%) had serious outcomes (major adverse cardiac event and/or death). Blinded patch report review suggested the patch would significantly reduce requirement for standard outpatient ambulatory ECG monitoring. 56 of 76 returned patches had a diagnostic finding within±45 s of a triggered/diary event (73.7% diagnostic utility; 95% CI 63.7 to 83.6); 34 of 56 (61%) for sinus rhythm or ectopic beats only., Conclusions: Routine, early ambulatory ECG monitoring in ED patients with unexplained syncope is probably warranted. A large-scale trial comparing this approach to standard care with cost-effectiveness and safety analysis is now required., Trial Registration: NCT02683174., Competing Interests: Competing interests: None declared., (© Article author(s) (or their employer(s) unless otherwise stated in the text of the article) 2018. All rights reserved. No commercial use is permitted unless otherwise expressly granted.)

Syncope is the common clinical manifestation of different diseases, and this makes it difficult to define what outcomes should be considered in prognostic studies. The aim of this study is to critically analyze the outcomes considered in syncope studies through systematic review and expert consensus. We performed a systematic review of the literature to identify prospective studies enrolling consecutive patients presenting to the Emergency Department with syncope, with data on the characteristics and incidence of short-term outcomes. Then, the strengths and weaknesses of each outcome were discussed by international syncope experts to provide practical advice to improve future selection and assessment. 31 studies met our inclusion criteria. There is a high heterogeneity in both outcome choice and incidence between the included studies. The most commonly considered 7-day outcomes are mortality, dysrhythmias, myocardial infarction, stroke, and rehospitalisation. The most commonly considered 30-day outcomes are mortality, haemorrhage requiring blood transfusion, dysrhythmias, myocardial infarction, pacemaker or implantable defibrillator implantation, stroke, pulmonary embolism, and syncope relapse. We present a critical analysis of the pros and cons of the commonly considered outcomes, and provide possible solutions to improve their choice in ED syncope studies. We also support global initiatives to promote the standardization of patient management and data collection.

Aims: There is no universally accepted tool for the risk stratification of syncope patients in the Emergency Department. The aim of this study was to investigate the short-term predictive accuracy of an artificial neural network (ANN) in stratifying the risk in this patient group., Methods and Results: We analysed individual level data from three prospective studies, with a cumulative sample size of 1844 subjects. Each dataset was reanalysed to reduce the heterogeneity among studies defining abnormal electrocardiogram (ECG) and serious outcomes according to a previous consensus. Ten variables from patient history, ECG, and the circumstances of syncope were used to train and test the neural network. Given the exploratory nature of this work, we adopted two approaches to train and validate the tool. One approach used 4/5 of the data for the training set and 1/5 for the validation set, and the other approach used 9/10 for the training set and 1/10 for the validation set. The sensitivity, specificity, and area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of ANNs in identifying short-term adverse events after syncope were 95% [95% confidence interval (CI) 80-98%], 67% (95% CI 62-72%), 0.69 with the 1/5 approach and 100% (95% CI 84-100%), 79% (95% CI 72-85%), 0.78 with the 1/10 approach., Conclusion: The results of our study suggest that ANNs are effective in predicting the short-term risk of patients with syncope. Prospective studies are needed in order to compare ANNs' predictive capability with existing rules and clinical judgment., (Published on behalf of the European Society of Cardiology. All rights reserved. © The Author 2016. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.)

The role of cardiac biomarkers in risk stratification of syncope is unclear. We undertook a systematic review to assess their predictive value for short-term major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE). We conducted a systematic review using MEDLINE, EMBASE, DARE and Cochrane databases from inception to July 2014. We included studies involving adult syncope patients that evaluated cardiac biomarker levels for risk stratification during acute management and excluded case reports, reviews and studies involving children. Primary outcome (MACE) included death, cardiopulmonary resuscitation, myocardial infarction (MI), structural heart disease, pulmonary embolism, significant hemorrhage or cardiac procedural interventions. Secondary outcome analysis assessed for prediction of MI, cardiac syncope and death. Two reviewers extracted patient-level data based on the cut-off reported. Pooled sensitivities and specificities were calculated using patient-level data. A total of 1862 articles were identified, and 11 studies with 4246 patients were included. Studies evaluated 3 biomarkers: contemporary troponin (2693 patients), natriuretic peptides (1353 patients) and high-sensitive troponin (819 patients). The pooled sensitivities and specificities for MACE were: contemporary troponin 0.29 (95 % CI 0.24, 0.34) and 0.88 (95 % CI 0.86, 0.89); natriuretic peptides 0.77 (95 % CI 0.69, 0.85) and 0.73 (95 % CI 0.70, 0.76); high-sensitive troponin 0.74 (95 % CI 0.65, 0.83) and 0.65 (95 % CI 0.62, 0.69), respectively. Natriuretic peptides and high-sensitive troponin showed good diagnostic characteristics for both primary and secondary outcomes. Natriuretic peptides and high-sensitive troponin might be useful in risk stratification.

Syncope is a common problem encountered by both emergency and internal medicine physicians. This review focuses on not only the assessment, risk stratification and management of the syncope patient, but also the latest thinking on diagnostic testing including more novel tools such as biomarkers and ambulatory patch monitor recording.

Background: Syncope remains challenging for Emergency Department (ED) physicians due to difficulties in assessing the risk of future adverse outcomes. The aim of this meta-analysis is to establish the incidence and etiology of adverse outcomes as well as the predictors, in patients presenting with syncope to the ED., Methods: A systematic electronic literature review was performed looking for eligible studies published between 1990 and 2010. Studies reporting multivariate predictors of adverse outcomes in patients presenting with syncope to the ED were included and pooled, when appropriate, using a random-effect method. Adverse events were defined as 'incidence of death, or of hospitalization and interventional procedures because of arrhythmias, ischemic heart disease or valvular heart disease'., Results: 11 studies were included. Pooled analysis showed 42% (CI 95%; 32-52) of patients were admitted to hospital. Risk of death was 4.4% (CI 95%; 3.1-5.1) and 1.1% (CI 95%; 0.7-1.5) had a cardiovascular etiology. One third of patients were discharged without a diagnosis, while the most frequent diagnosis was 'situational, orthostatic or vasavagal syncope' in 29% (CI 95%; 12-47). 10.4% (CI 95%; 7.8-16) was diagnosed with heart disease, the most frequent type being bradyarrhythmia, 4.8% (CI 95%; 2.2-6.4) and tachyarrhythmia 2.6% (CI 95%; 1.1-3.1). Palpitations preceding syncope, exertional syncope, a history consistent of heart failure or ischemic heart disease, and evidence of bleeding were the most powerful predictors of an adverse outcome., Conclusion: Syncope carries a high risk of death, mainly related to cardiovascular disease. This large study which has established the most powerful predictors of adverse outcomes, may enable care and resources to be better focused at high risk patients., (Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Aims: To assess whether plasma troponin concentration measured by a sensitive assay can predict 1-month and 1-year serious outcome, or all-cause death in patients presenting with syncope to the emergency department (ED)., Methods: Prospective cohort study of admitted adult patients presenting to the ED after an episode of syncope who had plasma troponin measured 12 h after syncope using the ARCHITECT STAT sensitive troponin I assay (Abbott Diagnostics). Primary endpoints were the composite endpoint of serious outcome or all-cause death at 1 month and 1 year., Results: Between 1 March 2007 and 22 July 2008, 338 of 528 patients admitted from the ED with syncope had plasma troponin concentrations determined. Troponin concentrations were above the limit of detection in 261 (77%) patients. Patients numbering 120 (36%) had a troponin concentration ≥0.03 ng/ml (99th percentile of normal reference population), and 66 (20%) had concentrations ≥0.05 ng/ml (local diagnostic threshold for myocardial infarction). The proportion of patients with a composite serious outcome increased across patients stratified into quintiles based on peak troponin concentration at 1 month (0%, 9%, 13%, 26%, 70%) and at 1 year (10%, 22%, 26%, 52%, 85%)., Conclusions: The majority of patients admitted from the ED with syncope have detectable plasma troponin concentrations. Peak troponin concentration was associated with increasing risk of serious outcome and death, and this risk increases with higher troponin concentrations. Troponin may have a future role in the risk stratification of patients with syncope.

Background: Brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) may be a good prognostic marker in syncope. The aim of this study was to establish whether there is any change in BNP in association with an acute presentation., Methods: Patients aged ≥60 years admitted following presentation to the emergency department (ED) with syncope were eligible for prospective enrolment. Serial BNP measurements were performed on admission and at intervals up to 4 weeks after presentation., Results: Between 8 March 2010 and 14 April 2010, 31 patients were recruited and were suitable for analysis, including seven patients who returned to the ED at 4 weeks. Mean BNP rose from a baseline of 167.8 ng/ml to a peak of 303.2 ng/ml at 48 h and then returned to baseline at 4 weeks. BNP ratio reached 2.3 (more than twice admission level) at 18 h and peaked at 2.4 at 1 week before returning to baseline at 4 weeks., Conclusions: BNP seems to rise from baseline to a peak between 18 h and 1 week after an acute syncopal episode in many patients. The reasons for this are not clear.

Study Objective: We investigate the incidence of adverse events at 1 year in the cohort of emergency department (ED) syncope patients enrolled in the original Risk Stratification of Syncope in the Emergency Department (ROSE) study, the time to adverse event, and the test performance of the ROSE decision instrument to detect events at 1 year., Methods: This report details the 1-year follow-up of adult syncope patients presenting to the ED who were enrolled into the ROSE study, a single-center, prospective, observational cohort study. The primary endpoint was the combination of serious outcome and all-cause death at 1 year. Serious outcome encompassed acute myocardial infarction, life-threatening arrhythmia, need for pacemaker/implantable defibrillator, pulmonary embolus, cerebrovascular accident, intracranial or subarachnoid hemorrhage, and interventional procedure or hemorrhage requiring blood transfusion. Secondary endpoints were all-cause death and cardiovascular serious outcome at 1 year., Results: One thousand forty-three patients were available for analysis; 162 patients (15.5%) had a primary outcome. Twenty-eight (17%) of these were within 24 hours, 56 (35%) were within 1 week, and 78 (48%) were within 1 month. The remaining 84 (52%) outcomes occurred between months 2 and 12. At 1 year, 71 (6.8%) patients had died and 76 (7.3%) had a cardiovascular serious outcome. The sensitivity and specificity of the ROSE decision instrument for 1-year serious outcome and all-cause death were, respectively, 71.6% (95% confidence interval [CI] 63.9% to 78.3%) and 71.1% (95% CI 67.9% to 74.0%); for 1-year all-cause death, 76.1% (95% CI 64.2% to 85.1%) and 67.4% (95% CI 64.3% to 70.3%); and for 1-year cardiovascular serious outcome, 75.0% (95% CI 63.5% to 83.9%) and 67.5% (95% CI 64.5% to 70.5%)., Conclusion: The proportion of patients with serious outcome and all-cause death 1 year after syncope is similar to that reported in recent international syncope studies. We have defined the proportion of patients with cardiovascular serious outcome at 1 year and have shown that most events occurred in the first month, with decreased frequency of events observed after that time especially marked for cardiovascular serious outcome. More than 50% of the outcomes observed, however, occurred after the first month. The ROSE decision instrument does not perform well at predicting 1-year outcome of ED syncope patients., (Copyright © 2011 American College of Emergency Physicians. Published by Mosby, Inc. All rights reserved.)

Introduction: The management and risk stratification of patients with syncope in the Emergency Department (ED) has been the emphasis of much recent research, however little is known about inpatient management especially in the UK. The aim of this study was to examine the inpatient management of patients with syncope admitted to hospital from a UK ED., Methods: This was a single centre prospective observational cohort study, recruiting patients with syncope admitted to hospital from a UK ED. Inpatient management was examined focusing on length of stay and investigations undertaken., Results: Between 3 March 2007 and 22 July 2008, 540 patients presenting with syncope to the ED of the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, UK were admitted and enrolled. Median and mean length of stay was 1 day (IQR 1-4) and 6.3 days (SD 15.5). In all, 392 (73%) patients were admitted to General/Acute Medicine, 39 (7%) to Cardiology, 35 (7%) to Medicine of the Elderly, 33 (6%) to surgical specialities and the rest to other specialities. A diagnosis was finally made in 342 (63%) patients including 33 (85%) of the 39 admitted to Cardiology and 239 (61%) of the 392 patients admitted to General/Acute Medicine. The use of diagnostic tests varied between specialities with more intensive investigation undertaken in patients admitted to Cardiology., Conclusions: The current approach to the inpatient management of syncope is speciality dependent. Standardised diagnostic pathways may improve diagnostic yield and cost effectiveness.

The objective of this study was to assess whether the number of syncope attendances to the Emergency Department is related to daily temperature and humidity, or time of the day, day of the week, month or season of the year. All adult patients presenting with syncope over a 1-year period between 1 March 2007 and 29 February 2008 were enrolled. A circadian pattern of syncope attendances exists, peak attendance was between 10 : 00 and 16 : 00 h, especially in those aged above 65 years (P<0.001). There was no obvious relationship between attendances and mean daily temperature (r=0.16) and attendances and mean daily humidity (r=-0.14). There were 11% more attendances between December and May than between June and October (P=0.8, NS, chi). In conclusion, there is a circadian pattern of syncope attendances to the Emergency Department. The peak time for presentations is between 10 : 00 and 16 : 00 h. A trend was found towards more attendances between December and May. One hypothesis for this is differences between indoor and outdoor temperatures. Public health campaigns could be targeted towards elderly patients to ensure that they are aware of the increased risk of syncope on waking and also on transferring from cold to warm environments.

Aims: To primarily assess the value of troponin I to identify acute myocardial infarction (AMI), and second, to predict 1-month serious outcome or all-cause death in patients presenting with syncope to the Emergency Department (ED)., Design: Prospective cohort study of all adult patients presenting to the ED after an episode of syncope., Methods: In admitted patients, plasma troponin I was measured 12 h after syncope, and in discharged patients, between 12 h and 7 days following discharge. Primary endpoints were the diagnosis of AMI, and the composite endpoint of serious outcome or all-cause death at 1 month., Results: Over an 8-month period, 289 patients were recruited. Troponin I was obtained in 186 admitted patients and was elevated in 13 (7%), and obtained in 103 discharged patients and was raised in only one (1%). Four patients had an AMI (1.4%) and all had ischaemic electrocardiographic (ECG) changes on their presenting ED ECG (ST segment deviation or pathological Q waves) that were 100% sensitive and 72% specific for AMI with a 100% negative predictive value. Seven of the 14 patients (50%) with a raised troponin I had a serious outcome that did not include AMI, or all-cause death compared with 16 of the 267 patients (6%) without a raised troponin (p<0.0001)., Conclusions: AMI is infrequent (1.4%), and estimation of troponin I provides little additional benefit to the presenting ED ECG in identifying patients with syncope due to AMI. Troponin I should not be used to rule out AMI in adult patients presenting with isolated syncope. Troponin I may predict 1-month serious outcome or all-cause death in syncope.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to develop and validate a clinical decision rule (CDR) to predict 1-month serious outcome and all-cause death in patients presenting with syncope to the emergency department., Background: Syncope is a common, potentially serious condition accounting for many hospital admissions., Methods: This was a single center, prospective, observational study of adults presenting to the emergency department with syncope. A CDR was devised from 550 patients in a derivation cohort and tested in a validation cohort of a further 550 patients., Results: One-month serious outcome or all-cause death occurred in 40 (7.3%) patients in the derivation cohort. Independent predictors were brain natriuretic peptide concentration > or =300 pg/ml (odds ratio [OR]: 7.3), positive fecal occult blood (OR: 13.2), hemoglobin < or =90 g/l (OR: 6.7), oxygen saturation < or =94% (OR: 3.0), and Q-wave on the presenting electrocardiogram (OR: 2.8). One-month serious outcome or all-cause death occurred in 39 (7.1%) patients in the validation cohort. The ROSE (Risk stratification Of Syncope in the Emergency department) rule had a sensitivity and specificity of 87.2% and 65.5%, respectively, and a negative predictive value of 98.5%. An elevated B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) concentration alone was a major predictor of serious cardiovascular outcomes (8 of 22 events, 36%) and all-cause deaths (8 of 9 deaths, 89%)., Conclusions: The ROSE rule has excellent sensitivity and negative predictive value in the identification of high-risk patients with syncope. As a component, BNP seems to be a major predictor of serious cardiovascular outcomes and all-cause death. The ROSE rule and BNP measurement might be valuable risk stratification tools in patients with emergency presentations of syncope and should now be subjected to external validation., (Copyright (c) 2010 American College of Cardiology Foundation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Aim: To establish whether D-dimer is an independent predictor of 1-month serious outcome and all-cause death in syncope patients presenting to the emergency department (ED)., Methods: This was a prospective cohort study of all adults presenting with syncope to an ED in the UK. Plasma D-dimer concentrations were determined in citrated plasma obtained at presentation. The primary endpoint was the combination of serious outcome and all-cause death at 1 month., Results: Of 237 patients enrolled, 205 patients had a suitable plasma sample and had complete follow-up. Seventeen patients had a serious outcome or death at 1 month including three patients with a pulmonary embolus and eight with a serious cardiovascular outcome. Nearly a half of all patients (n=94; 46%) had a plasma D-dimer concentration above the upper limit of normal, 10 of whom had a serious outcome or death at 1 month. Receiver-operator characteristic curve analysis showed no relationship between plasma D-dimer concentration and serious outcome or death at 1 month. An elevated plasma D-dimer concentration was found in all patients with a pulmonary embolus., Conclusion: Plasma D-dimer is frequently raised in patients presenting with syncope to the ED and consequently does not predict 1-month serious outcome or death. We conclude that there is no role for the routine measurement of D-dimer in the management of patients presenting to the ED with syncope.

Syncope is a common presenting complaint to the emergency department (ED). Its assessment is difficult. Some serious causes of syncope are transient and patients with a potentially life threatening condition may appear well by the time they reach the ED. Accurate history taking is vital and is often diagnostic whilst identification of a cardiac cause is associated with an increased mortality. This is related to underlying cardiac disease; patients presenting with syncope who have significant cardiac disease should be investigated thoroughly to determine the nature of the underlying heart disease and the cause of syncope. Early work suggested that as many as 30% of patients with cardiac syncope died within one year of presentation. This led to physicians admitting many patients with unexplained syncope however presently there is little evidence that focussed investigation, or even admission leads to an improved prognosis. Studies looking at syncope clinical decision units have though shown these to be of some benefit. Risk stratification studies on syncope in the ED have attempted to help emergency physicians target high-risk patients once those with clearly identifiable conditions have been identified and managed. These clinical decision rules have suffered from poor external validation and in the USA where many of these tools were developed, a universal consensus approach remains lacking. Although no individual tool has yet been successfully implemented into standard practice, as a whole they have probably enabled emergency physicians to become more aware of the risk factors that are likely to lead to poor outcome. It is likely that serious outcome in syncope although significant, is not quite as common as previously thought. Presently the American College of Emergency Physician (ACEP) guidelines are the most useful guidelines written for the emergency physician. With biochemical markers showing some promise, further work may lead to incorporation of these into existing clinical decision rules and guidelines to improve their sensitivity and specificity.

Aims: To establish the current practice of emergency department (ED) management of syncope in the UK and Republic of Ireland., Methods: A survey of "major" or "intermediate" size ED in the UK and Republic of Ireland conducted by postal and telephone questionnaire., Results: 177 (70%) ED responded. 32 (18%) ED have syncope guidelines, which are based on a range of existing guidelines. 97 ED (55%) have an observation ward or clinical decision unit and 48 (49%) of these admit syncope patients to these units. 32 ED (18%) have access to a specialist syncope outpatient clinic. This is most likely to be run by general practitioner specialists (43%) or general physicians (24%). 81% of ED felt that improved research-based guidelines would be useful when managing syncope patients., Conclusion: The ED management of syncope patients in the UK and Republic of Ireland is varied. Only 18% of ED have specific guidelines for managing this difficult condition and only 18% have access to a specialist syncope clinic. A robust consensus UK syncope guideline is clearly required.

Aim: This study was conducted as a feasibility pilot for the Prediction of Risk In Syncope using ECG characteristics (PRISE) study. The secondary aim was to determine whether heart rate variability (HRV) characteristics may be useful to distinguish low and high-risk syncope patients., Methods: Adult patients presenting to the emergency department (ED) with syncope over a one-month period underwent a 5-minute 12-lead ECG. Study patients were assigned high, medium or low-risk status according to the ED's existing syncope guidelines as well as one of four likely diagnostic categories. ECG signals from all patients were then analysed and time domain HRV characteristics were derived using WelchAllyn's Cardioperfect interpretation software. A control group of patients was also recruited., Results: Over a 4-week period in July 2007, 32 patients were recruited into the study group and 23 into the control group. ECG tracings of five study group patients were not suitable for analysis. According to the ED's existing syncope guidelines there were nine low-risk, 12 medium-risk and six high-risk patients with diagnostic categories as follows: postural hypotension, five; vasovagal, 16; cardiac, five and other, one. Patients with cardiac syncope had greater mean values for all HRV characteristics except NN number and NN minimum; however, with overlapping confidence intervals. Low-risk patients were more likely to be younger than medium and high-risk patients. No HRV parameters showed any significant differences., Conclusions: Measuring HRV in the acute ED setting is feasible. If patients with cardiac and neurocardiogenic syncope have different HRV characteristics then it could be useful to determine a patient's underlying cause of syncope in the ED, which would allow earlier decision-making.

Aims: To assess the value of a near-patient brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) test to predict medium term (3 month) serious outcome for adult syncope patients presenting to a UK emergency department (ED)., Methods: This was a prospective cohort pilot study. Consecutive patients aged > or = 16 years presenting with syncope over a 3 month period were eligible for prospective enrolment. All patients who were medium or high risk according to our ED's existing syncope guidelines underwent near-patient BNP testing using the Triage point of care machine., Results: 99 patients were recruited. 72 of 82 high and medium risk patients underwent BNP measurement. 11 patients had a serious outcome, 9 of whom had BNP measured. In 25 (35%) patients, BNP was > or = 100 pg/ml, and in 3 of these it was > 1000 pg/ml. 6 of the 25 patients (24%) with a BNP > 100 pg/ml, and all 3 patients with a BNP > 1000 pg/ml, were in the serious outcome group. BNP was raised over 100 pg/ml in 6 of the 9 serious outcome patients having a BNP measured (66%), and over 1000 pg/ml in 3 (33%)., Conclusions: This early work suggests that BNP may have a role in the risk assessment of syncope patients in the ED. Further work is required to see how BNP interacts with other clinical variables. Near-patient BNP testing may be shown to be an independent predictor of adverse outcome either alone or incorporated into existing syncope clinical decision rules and scores in order to improve their sensitivity and specificity. Further studies are required to evaluate this.

Aims: This study was conducted as a feasibility pilot for the Risk stratification Of Syncope in the Emergency department (ROSE) study. The secondary aim was to compare the performance of our existing emergency department (ED) guidelines with existing clinical decision rules (Osservatorio Epidemiologico sulla Sincope nel Lazio (OESIL) Score and San Francisco Syncope Rule; SFSR) at predicting short-term (1 week and 1 month) and medium-term (3 months) serious outcomes for patients with syncope presenting to the ED., Methods: This was a prospective cohort study. All patients presenting with syncope aged > or = 16 years between 7 November 2005 and 7 February 2006 were prospectively enrolled., Results: 99 patients were recruited over a 3-month period. 44 patients were admitted and 55 discharged from the ED. 11 patients had a serious outcome: 8 by 7 days and a further 3 by 3 months. Five patients died by 3 months and six others had an alternative serious outcome. All 11 patients had been admitted from the ED, 7 were at high risk, 4 were at medium risk and none were at low risk according to our existing ED guidelines. Percentages of serious outcomes were 0%, 2.9%, 8.0%, 22.7% and 37.5% for OESIL scores of 0, 1, 2, 3 and 4 respectively. 40 patients had none of the 5 SFSR high-risk factors (0 serious outcomes = 0%) and 59 patients had an SFSR high-risk factor (11 serious outcomes = 18.6%). The risk of serious outcome at 7 days, 1 month and 3 months was 8.1%, 8.1% and 11.1%, respectively., Conclusions: A study to derive and validate a UK ED syncope clinical decision rule is feasible. This pilot study has evaluated the OESIL score, the SFSR and our existing ED guidelines, and has shown that each is able to identify an increased probability of medium-term serious outcome in patients with syncope. The SFSR shows good sensitivity at the expense of an increase in admissions to hospital; however, our existing ED syncope guidelines and the OESIL Score, although being able to successfully risk stratify patients, are not sufficiently sensitive to be able to reduce admissions without missing patients at risk of a serious outcome. Undoubtedly there is a need for a simple UK-derived clinical decision rule for patients presenting with syncope to enable safe, effective clinical care and to aid less experienced decision makers.

Syncope is a commonly encountered problem in the emergency department (ED). Its causes are many and varied, some of which are potentially life threatening. A review was carried out of relevant papers in the available literature, and this article attempts to assimilate current evidence relating to ED management. While the cause of syncope can be identified in many patients, and life threatening conditions subsequently treated, a risk stratification approach should be taken for those in whom a cause is not identified in the ED. Aspects of the history and examination that may help identify high risk patients are explored and the role of investigations to aid this stratification is discussed. Identifying a cardiac cause for syncope is a poor prognostic indicator. Patients with unexplained syncope who have significant cardiac disease should therefore be investigated thoroughly to determine the nature of the underlying heart disease and the cause of syncope, although presently there is little evidence that this improves their dismal prognosis. This risk stratification approach has led to the development of several clinical decision rules, which are discussed along with current international guidelines on syncope management. This review suggests that presently the American College of Emergency Physicians guidelines are the most useful aids specific to the management of syncope in the ED; however, the Osservatorio Epidemiologico sulla Sincope nel Lazio (OESIL) score may also be a useful ED risk stratification tool.