Peter Bačík
Syncope as a symptom is defined as a transient loss of consciousness and postural tonus and is caused by transient
global cerebral hypoperfusion and characterised by a rapid beginning, short duration and spontaneous total recovery.
Syncope is just a symptom, not a syndrome or illness and it could occur in patients without organic heart disease but
on the other hand it could be a presentation of many disorders. It occurs in 3 % of men and 3.5 % of women and it is responsible
for 3 % of examinations and 6 % of admissions to hospital. Syncope is relatively common in population with
the first presentation during the characteristical period, whereby just 5% of adults has the first syncope in age above
40 years. Some cases are misinterpreted as a syncope, for instance those, in which the loss of consciousness is real but
they are caused by the other mechanisms as the global cerebral hypoperfusion (for example epilepsy, metabolic disorders
as hypoxia, hypoglycaemia etc.). In other cases loss of consciousness is not real (for instance cataplexy psychogenic
pseudosyncope etc.). Syncope is divided into reflex (neurally mediated), orthostatic, postprandial, cardiogenic
(either arrhythmic or mechanical) and vascular. In the following text we are discussing more about a pathophysiological
base of classification of syncopes. In spite of all available examinations one third of syncope remains still uncertain.