Patients commonly present to the emergency department with syncope. Syncope is a transient loss of consciousness followed by a spontaneous return to baseline neurologic function that does not require resuscitation. The evaluation of syncope should include a thorough history and physical exam to identify high-risk clinical predictors for CT head abnormalities. These high-risk predictors include, but are not limited to: trauma above the clavicles, headache, persistent neurologic deficit, age over 65, patients taking anticoagulants, or known malignancies. Many patients with syncope receive a CT scan of the head; however, in the absence of these predictors, a CT head is unlikely to aid in the management of syncope patients. CT scans can expose patients to unnecessary ionizing radiation that has the potential to increase patients’ lifetime risk of cancer. Unwarranted imaging also increases length of stay and misdiagnosis.

Conditions: Syncope

Diagnostic Tests: CT head scans

Sources

• Goyal N, Donnino MW, Vachhani R, Bajwa R, Ahmad T, Otero R. The utility of head computed tomography in the emergency department evaluation of syncope. Intern Emerg Med. 2006;1(2):148-50. (PubMed)
• Grossman SA, Fischer C, Bar JL, et al. The yield of head CT in syncope: a pilot study. Intern Emerg Med. 2007 Mar;2(1):46-9. Epub 2007 Mar 31. (PubMed)
• Sheldon RS, Morillo CA, Krahn AD, et al. Standardized approaches to the investigation of syncope: Canadian Cardiovascular Society position paper. Can J Cardiol. 2011 Mar-Apr;27(2):246-53. (PubMed)