Differential diagnosis between epilepsy and syncope. The Oesys study (overlapping between epilepsy and syncope study): Preliminary results

There are few studies in literature regarding the differential diagnosis between syncope and epilepsy in patients with transient loss of consciousness (T-LOC) of uncertain etiology. Data obtained on few patients, however, seem to show a common "misdiagnosis" of epilepsy (20-30%) in patients with episodes of T-LOC likely to be syncope. For this reason the Italian Group of Syncope in the elderly (GIS) of the Italian Society of Gerontology and Geriatrics has started multicenter study (Overlapping Between Epilepsy and Syncope Study), with the primary purpose to evaluate the efficiency of cardiovascular tests and neuroautonomic assessments in patients diagnosed with T-LOC of epileptic origin and recurrences despite drug therapy, and as a secondary aim, to evaluate the diagnostic and therapeutic impact of the intervention in terms of recurrence of loss of consciousness.