Randomized Prospective Comparison of Two Protocols for Head-up Tilt Testing in Patients with Normal Heart and Recurrent Unexplained Syncope (original) (raw)

This randomized study was aimed to compare the diagnostic value of two head-up tilt testing protocols using sublingual nitroglycerin for provocation in patients with recurrent unexplained syncope and normal heart. The patients with normal findings in physical examination, electrocardiography and echocardiography were randomly submitted to one of upright tilt test protocols. The only difference between two protocols was that nitroglycerin was administered after a five minute resting phase in supine position during protocol B. We also considered eighty normal persons as the control group. Out of 290 patients that underwent tilt testing, 132 patients were in group A versus 158 patients in group B. Both groups had an identical distribution of clinical characteristics. Tilt test was positive in 79 patients in group A (25 in passive phase, 54 in active phase) versus 96 patients in group B (43 in passive phase, 53 in active phase). There was no significant difference between results in two...