Evaluation of the patient with syncope: an evidence based approach

The cause of syncope often eludes the clinician despite extensive efforts to make a definitive diagnosis. In that group of patients for whom the cause has eluded the clinician, it is unclear which patients need a rapid inpatient work-up and which patients can be safely discharged for outpatient evaluation. The authors present the results of a systematic literature search to determine the diagnostic value of the emergency department work-up of the patient with syncope.