Cardiac syncope in an elderly patient: a clinical case from practice

Abstract

Syncope is the most important, frequently occurring, and difficult to diagnose problem in modern clinical medicine. Often, syncope in the elderly is the first and only symptom of life-threatening arrhythmias and, if not diagnosed in time, increases the risk of sudden cardiac death. The presence of concomitant pathology, primarily cardiological and neurological, makes it difficult to differentiate syncope in elderly and old patients. The combination of the patient’s complaints about transient short-term loss of consciousness and electrocardiographic signs of bifascicular heart block makes the cardiac – arrhythmic cause of syncope to be more probable. The article is devoted to the possibility of diagnosing arrhythmic causes of syncope in elderly and old patients with polymorbid pathology.