Brain tumour as a rare cause of cardiac syncope

We report on a patient with a bradycardia followed by an asystole as expression of a complex partial seizure arising from a cerebral neoplasm in the medial part of the left temporal lobe. Previously published papers have shown that cardiac asystole and bradycardia as manifestation of epilepsy originate from the temporal lobe. Although seizures are a common presenting symptom of a cerebral neoplasm, bradycardia and cardiac asystole of epileptic origin as first sign of a cerebral neoplasm is only sporadically documented in literature. Many different regions of the central nervous system are involved in the cardiovascular control. When a patient with a collapse is admitted to the emergency room it often is difficult to differentiate between cardiological and neurological aetiologies. However, it is important to identify the origin of a collapse in order to start the right treatment and give correct information to the patient and his family. Therefore, in patients with a non-typical cardiac syncope, a primary neurological cause should be considered.