Neurocardiogenic syncope and epilepsy in pediatric age: The diagnostic value of electroencephalogram-electrocardiogram holter

Neurocardiogenic syncope is induced by a hyperrecruitment of parasympathetic nerve tone elicited by emotional stress or pain. The presence of a transient loss of consciousness associated with involuntary motor activity or with urinary incontinence and the misinterpretation of anamnestic data or of electroencephalogram (EEG) abnormalities often leads to wrong diagnosis of epilepsy in children with this disorder.Careful and systematic history taking, pressure measurement, electrocardiogram (ECG), and, in selected cases, head-up tilt table testing are generally enough to rule out a cardiogenic or a neurocardiogenic syncope. Simultaneous EEG-ECG Holter represents a useful instrument for differential diagnosis between neurocardiogenic syncope and epilepsy.We report 3 case reports to demonstrate how simultaneous EEG-ECG Holter can contribute to characterize functional heart-brain interactions and the exact sequence of the physiopathologic events leading to the loss of consciousness in cases in which the clinical borders with epileptic disorders are particularly subtle. Copyright © 2011 by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.