Ventricular Syncope

Abstract

To those who think of the heart as merely a pump, the concept that an episode of syncope may be triggered by activation of sensory nerve endings in the ventricles may seem far-fetched. It should not. We accept the notion than an arterial "bulge" at the carotid bifurcation can cause syncope if compressed or massaged vigorously, and we recognize the syndrome of carotid-sinus syncope and carotid-sinus hypersensitivity as a common clinical entity.The patients described in the paper by Almquist et al.1 in this issue of the Journal may have a comparable syndrome — that of ventricular syncope, or hypersensitivity . . .