[New developments in the management of syncope]

The management of patients presenting with syncope has without doubt evolved in a spectacular manner over recent years. This evolution is the result of intense clinical research activity led jointly by several teams in the world, mainly in Europe. It has materialised with the publication, at the European Cardiology Society's instigation, of recommendations which have highlighted our current knowledge and ignorance. This article does not presume to review every published development in recent years, but simply to alert or remind the reader in the limited space available about the innovations which seem the most important, starting with the unanimously accepted definition of syncope, without which any discussion of this symptom is futile.