Clinical Characteristics and Head-Up Tilt Test Results With Three Protocols in 1661 Patients With Syncope

Syncope is a common medical problem whose diagnosis is established from clinical data. The headup tilt-table test (HUT) is often used as a diagnostic tool and is accepted and recommended by all cardiologists.1 Almost all groups use one of three HUT protocols: Westminster drug-free protocol, HUT with isoproterenol or HUT with nitroglycerin. Although different responses occur during HUT2 depending on age,3-5 the influence of sex and age in the different protocols has received little attention.6-8 The aims of this study were to a) compare results of HUT using the three most common protocols; b) determine whether there were differences in the three protocols according to sex, and c) investigate the influence of age on positive responses in each protocol.