Ad:

Syncope - causes, treatment, first aid

Syncope - causes, treatment, first aid

Pantherstock

Doctor

Syncope is defined as a state of briefly lasting loss of consciousness, sensation and also the ability to perform movements.

Ad:

The patient recovers on their own after some time. It is caused by cerebral ischaemia due to insufficient oxygen. There are many causes of syncope, ranging from the sight of blood to pain causes (fear of pain), anxiety or those caused by illness.

Causes of syncope

Fainting is most often a symptom of illness, although fainting due to a strong emotional reaction also occurs and in these types of cases there is no cause for concern. In most cases, the brief loss of consciousness that occurs quite often is the cause of health problems especially in patients who have heart and blood circulation problems.

The causes of syncope are many and varied.
Syncope occurs when one of the mechanisms is disturbed or impaired:

  • inadequate heart function,
  • inadequate blood flow,
  • inadequate blood flow in the vessels,
  • inadequate circulating blood flow, resulting in reduced oxygen supply (carried by the blood) to the brain, - this leads to hypoxia.



photo: iStock

One of the most common causes of syncope is an obstructed outflow of blood from the heart and its filling with blood, which may be related to the presence of a heart tumour, valvular disease, heart murmurs, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy or thrombi. Very often syncope is also caused by heart rhythm disturbances, especially when the heart rate is too fast or too slow. Attention is also drawn to tachycardia, which may be related to heart failure, ischaemia or other myocardial diseases. Attention should also be paid to myocarditis or a history of myocardial infarction, which can rarely, but nevertheless, lead to syncope.