G-suited for prevention of syncope in patients with vasovagal syncope: a pilot study

Vasovagal syncope (VVS) represents by far the most common cause of syncope as it is diagnosed in around 50% of all patients that come to an emergency department. Although VVS is not fatal, it can cause an injury. Even serious injuries are not common, but there are reports of serious injuries of up to 5%. There are no current studies that demonstrate the effectiveness of any treatment. Past studies found that an Anti-Gravity suit (G-suit) can increase blood pressure and has been reported to prevent orthostatic hypotension effectively in patients with diabetes. It is possible that the G-suit can prevent VVS.

In the present study, the authors assessed the efficacy of G-suit for vasovagal syncope prevention.

In this open-label, randomized controlled study, we used the Italian tilt protocol, namely 60 degree passive tilting followed by 0.4 mg nitroglycerin challenge when the passive phase fails to induce syncope. If test was positive, then patient was enrolled. Tilt table test was repeated to compare G-suited and no G-suited to assess efficacy of G-suit for vasovagal syncope prevention.

10 patients were enrolled. There is no difference between the control group and an experimental group. In this study there is no cardio-inhibition vasovagal syncope. Positive tilt table test occurred in 50% of the patients receiving G-suited and 100% in control group (p 0.133).

G-suit is unable to prevent syncope in patients with positive tilt table test but the result is not statistically significant. However, the number of patients may be too small.