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- Title
Diagnostic utility and outcomes of inpatient investigations for syncope in a regional setting.
- Authors
Schembri, Laura; Vangaveti, Venkat; Mallett, Andrew
- Abstract
Background: Syncope is a common presentation to the emergency department with a wide spectrum of aetiology. The identification of the underlying cause can be diagnostically challenging, as are the choice of investigations and the decision for inpatient versus outpatient disposition. Aims: This study aimed to evaluate the aetiology of syncope as documented, the diagnostic yield of inpatient investigations and outcomes for adult patients admitted for syncope. Methods: A single‐centred, retrospective cohort study was conducted in adult patients admitted for syncope within a 2‐year period. A total of 386 patients were identified after exclusion. Information regarding syncope aetiology, investigations and outcomes were established via chart review of electronic records. Results: The most common cause of syncope was neural‐mediated (43%), followed by orthostatic (36.5%) and cardiogenic (20.5%). The investigations performed in order of frequency included: telemetry electrocardiogram (ECG) (75.4%), computed tomography head non‐contrast (58.8%), transthoracic echocardiogram (TTE) (20.2%), computed tomography pulmonary angiogram (CTPA) (6.5%), MR brain (3.9%), electroencephalogram (1.3%) and carotid ultrasound (0.3%). Telemetry ECG, TTE and CTPA led to the diagnosis of syncope in a minority of patients only. As a result, 17.5% of patients had a new intervention on discharge, 5.4% were readmitted for syncope and 9.6% of patients died. Conclusions: In the context of the inpatient evaluation of syncope, this study supports the use of telemetry ECG and TTE. Neuroimaging demonstrates a low diagnostic yield for the cause of syncope, but it may have a role to play in excluding other pathologies. Our study does not support the routine use of CTPA, EEG or carotid ultrasound in the evaluation of syncope.
- Subjects
SYNCOPE; EVALUATION of medical care; RETROSPECTIVE studies; ACQUISITION of data; DIAGNOSTIC imaging; MEDICAL records; DESCRIPTIVE statistics; ROUTINE diagnostic tests; BIOTELEMETRY; LONGITUDINAL method
- Publication
Internal Medicine Journal, 2023, Vol 53, Issue 12, p2208
- ISSN
1444-0903
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1111/imj.16019