Motor vehicle accident with complete loss of consciousness due to vasovagal syncope

Vasovagal syncope (VVS) is one of the most common causes of complete or partial loss of consciousness, thus it might cause harm to the patients themselves or innocent bystanders while driving a car. In our case report we introduce the case of a 60-year-old man who was admitted to hospital after a se...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Forensic science international 2002-12, Vol.130 (2), p.156-159
Main Authors: Varga, Emma, Wórum, Ferenc, Szabó, Zoltán, Varga, Mihály, Lõrincz, István
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Accidents
Accidents, Traffic
Adrenergic beta-Antagonists - therapeutic use
Biological and medical sciences
Blood pressure
Cardiac arrhythmia
Cardiovascular disease
Consciousness
Convulsions & seizures
Decision making
Driving ability
Driving restriction
Electrocardiography
Fainting
Head-up tilt-table test
Headache. Facial pains. Syncopes. Epilepsia. Intracranial hypertension. Brain oedema. Cerebral palsy
Heart rate
Humans
Licenses
Male
Medical imaging
Medical sciences
Metoprolol - therapeutic use
Middle Aged
Motor vehicle accident
Motor vehicles
Nervous system (semeiology, syndromes)
Neurology
Pacemakers
Patients
Secondary Prevention
Syncope
Syncope, Vasovagal - complications
Syncope, Vasovagal - diagnosis
Syncope, Vasovagal - therapy
Tilt training
Tilt-Table Test
Traffic accidents & safety
Unconsciousness - etiology
Vasovagal syncope
Vehicles
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Vasovagal syncope (VVS) is one of the most common causes of complete or partial loss of consciousness, thus it might cause harm to the patients themselves or innocent bystanders while driving a car. In our case report we introduce the case of a 60-year-old man who was admitted to hospital after a serious motor vehicle accident due to loss of consciousness. We demonstrate the process and results of complete cardiologic and neurological assessment. Our case report illustrates the importance of recognition of patients with a high risk for incapacitating symptoms due to VVS, and the use of head-up tilt-table tests to determine the diagnosis and to guide therapy with beta-blocking agents. As transient loss of consciousness during driving may cause potentially fatal accident, it has to be taken into consideration during decision making for issue of driving licenses to patients with VVS.
ISSN:0379-0738
1872-6283
DOI:10.1016/S0379-0738(02)00377-8