Published 2 September 2009, doi:10.1136/bmj.b3323
Cite this as: BMJ 2009;339:b3323

Endgames

Case report

Transient loss of consciousness and a heart murmur

Christoph Kiblböck, senior house officer1, Wilhelm Schützenberger, associate professor 2, Jürgen Kammler, consultant cardiologist 2, Johannes Demmer, consultant surgeon 3, Franz Leisch, professor 2

1 Academic Teaching and General Hospital Linz, 4020 Linz, Austria, 2 Department of Internal Medicine I, Cardiovascular Division, Academic Teaching and General Hospital Linz, 3 Department of Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery, Academic Teaching and General Hospital Linz

Correspondence to: C Kiblböck christoph.kiblboeck@akh.linz.at

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

A 28 year old white woman was admitted after transient loss of consciousness. She remembered repeatedly lifting her neighbour’s child and finding herself on the floor the next moment. She had no nausea, sweating, or blurred vision before or after the event. Her husband confirmed that she had suddenly stopped in her movement, fallen down, and fully recovered within moments. She had never experienced such an episode before. However, she had experienced chest pain during physical exertion in the past three months. She had no previous medical history, an unremarkable family history, and was not taking medication.

On physical examination she was alert and oriented, with a heart rate of 70 beats/min and a blood pressure of 130/80 mm Hg. She had no signs of a tongue bite, injury, or incontinence. On auscultation, she had a midsystolic murmur over the right second intercostal space, with radiation into both carotid arteries. . . . [Full text of this article]

Syncopal causes1
Non-syncopal causes

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