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. 2001 Oct;9(7):275–278.

Beta blockade in neurocardiogenic dysfunction: results of a clinical study

MRP Baselier, AA van den Bos
PMCID: PMC2504425  PMID: 25696744

Abstract

Background

Few placebo-controlled studies with β-blockers have been performed in patients suffering from neurocardiogenic syncope.

Methods

We investigated the efficacy of metoprolol in 26 patients with recurrent syncope, suspected to be of neurocardiogenic origin, and positive tilt table test (TTT) outcome in a single-centre, double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover study, with treatment periods of two weeks. Therapeutic efficacy was defined as a negative TTT after metoprolol and a positive TTT after placebo. Therapeutic failure was defined as a positive TTT after metoprolol and a positive or negative TTT after placebo. Patients with a negative TTT test after both metoprolol and placebo comprised the third group.

Results

The 24 patients who completed the study consisted of 14 females and 10 males, mean age 53 years, range 18-75 years. Therapeutic efficacy was observed in nine patients, therapeutic failure in eight patients and seven patients had a negative TTT after both placebo and metoprolol. According to the exact binomial test for paired proportions, the 95% confidence interval is 12 to 38% and p<0.01 in favour of treatment with metoprolol.

Conclusion

These findings indicate a favourable effect of metoprolol.

Keywords: Beta blockade, neurocardiogenic syncope, tilt table test

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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