title: Patents in the diagnosis and therapy of neurocardiogenic syncope.
abstract: Neurocardiogenic syncope is one of the most common types of syncope, characterized by arterial vasodilatation with or without bradycardia. The regulation of blood pressure and heart rate is the result of a complex reaction between the central and peripheral nervous system with the circulatory system. Multiple therapies, pharmaceutical and interventional, have been applied without any proven effect. The initial positive reports on pacing were not demonstrated in enough number of controlled studies. Neurocardiogenic syncope continues to remain a clinical problem in terms of understanding its underlying mechanisms and therapy needs to be enlightened by future studies. This article provides a background of diagnosis and therapy of neurocardiogenic syncope and reviews some related patents.
authors.affiliation: 2nd Department of Cardiology, Onassis Cardiac Surgery Center, Athens, Greece. annapanagi@hotmail.com
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kostopoulou
authors.forename: Efthimios G
authors.initials: EG
authors.lastname: Livanis
authors.forename: Vassilis
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Voudris
mesh_terms: D015716:Electrocardiography, Ambulatory; D006801:Humans; D010330:Patents as Topic; D019462:Syncope, Vasovagal / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000628:therapy*