TY  - JOUR
T1  - CArotid disease and syncope
AU  - Finucane TE
Y1  - 2009/12/14
N1  - 10.1001/archinternmed.2009.447
JO  - Archives of Internal Medicine
SP  - 2162
EP  - 2166
VL  - 169
IS  - 22
N2  - 
Mendu and colleagues1 report on the yield of testing among older patients with syncope. They report no cerebrovascular cause of syncope, even though many of their patients had a history of stroke (16%), mental status changes (4%), symptoms suggestive of stroke (1%), and neurologic deficits on examination (6%). This makes sense because syncope, defined as the sudden, transient loss of consciousness with spontaneous recovery, cannot be caused by a cerebrovascular event (unless there are tremendous associated neurologic findings). Carotid disease is particularly implausible as a cause of syncope, yet 13% of patients underwent carotid ultrasound studies.

SN  - 0003-9926
M3  - doi: 10.1001/archinternmed.2009.447
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1001/archinternmed.2009.447
ER  -