Syncope as a presenting feature of hindbrain herniation with syringomyelia

Syncope is rare as a presenting symptom of syringomyelia. Three cases are described in which syncope brought the patient to hospital and in each case syringomyelia was subsequently diagnosed and treated. The suggestion is made that impaction of hindbrain hernia or the Chiari malformation may be a causative mechanism of loss of consciousness in such cases; the three examples presented all did well after posterior fossa surgery to decompress the hindbrain hernia.