The head-up tilt test (HUTT) is widely used for investigation of syncope and presyncope, since it allows diagnosing different types of dysautonomia. The main cause of syncope is the vasovagal syndrome, the most common diagnosis among patients with HUTT indication. The test has been used for nearly 20 years, but many doctors are unaware of the methodology. After the cardiac causes of syncope are...

Syncope is a major healthcare problem with significant morbidity, mortality and healthcare cost. It is a common symptom with a complex pathophysiology and, therefore, several aetiologies. Tilt-table testing (TTT) is an important, yet perhaps not widely-used, test that forms part of the management of syncope. We sought to assess the utilisation of this test in our institution for the investigati...

Visual aftereffects have been found for a wide variety of stimuli, ranging from oriented lines to human faces, but previous results suggested that face aftereffects were qualitatively different from orientation (tilt) aftereffects. Using computational models, we predicted that these differences were due to the limited range of faces used in previous studies. Here we report psychophysical result...

In this study we wanted to verify the diagnostic value of tilt table test (TTT) to predict the efficacy of cardiac pacing (PM) for preventing recurrences of neurally mediated reflex syncope (NMS) in patients with cardioinhibitory activity (CI) documented by implantable loop recorder (ILR). Among patients selected by ILR in the context of severe clinical presentation of NMS, we analysed those wh...

Rev Esp Cardiol 2004;57(7):613-6 613 Syncope is defined as a transient loss of consciousness associated with a loss of postural tone, in which the patient recovers spontaneously without the need for electrical or pharmacological cardioversion.1,2 This symptom may have one of several causes, some of them completely benign and self-limiting, others potentially fatal. Diagnosis is primarily made o...

Motion can bias the perceived location of a stationary stimulus (Whitney & Cavanagh, 2000), but whether this occurs at a high level of representation or at early, retinotopic stages of visual processing remains an open question. As coding of orientation emerges early in visual processing, we tested whether motion could influence the spatial location at which orientation adaptation is seen. Spec...

Quantitative health impact assessments of chronic mortality, where the impacts are expected to be observed over a number of years, are complicated by the link between death rates and surviving populations. A general calculation framework for quantitative impact assessment is presented, based on standard life table calculation methods, which permits consistent future projections of impacts on mo...

PURPOSE Neurocardiogenic syncope (formerly vasovagal) accounts for large numbers of falls in older adults and the mechanisms are poorly understood. This study examined the differences in baseline arterial baroreflex function in older adults with and without a neruocardiovascular response to orthostatic stress. METHODS Subjects were divided into two groups based on the presence (TT+ group) or ...

The head-up-tilt-test in pediatric patients for the evaluation of syncope shows a sensitivity of 35-85% and often requires pharmacological stimulation in order to improve its diagnostic value. We used a new device for beat-to-beat blood pressure monitoring combined with impedance cardiography in a 12-year-old girl during tilt testing. A seven seconds asystolia was provoked. The haemodynamic par...