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Glossopharyngeal insufflation induces cardioinhibitory syncope in apnea divers

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Abstract

Apnea divers increase intrathoracic pressure voluntarily by taking a deep breath followed by glossopharyngeal insufflation. Because apnea divers sometimes experience hypotension and syncope during the maneuver, they may serve as a model to study the mechanisms of syncope. We recorded changes in hemodynamics and sympathetic vasomotor tone with microneurography during breath holding with glossopharyngeal insufflation. Five men became hypotensive and fainted during breath holding with glossopharyngeal insufflation within the first minute. In four divers, heart rate dropped suddenly to a minimum of 38 ± 4 beats/min. Therefore, cardioinhibitory syncope was more common than low cardiac output syncope.

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Acknowledgments

We thank the divers for their enthusiastic participation. The Croatian Ministry of Science, Education and Sports, Grant No. 216-2160133-0130 supported the study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Clinical Pharmacology, Hannover Medical School, Carl Neuberg Str. 1, 30625, Hannover, Germany

    Jens Tank, Karsten Heusser & Jens Jordan

  2. Department of Neurology, Clinical Hospital Split, Split, Croatia

    Gordan Dzamonja

  3. Department of Physiology, University of Split School of Medicine, Split, Croatia

    Ivan Palada, Zoran Valic, Darija Bakovic, Ante Obad, Vladimir Ivancev, Toni Breskovic & Zeljko Dujic

  4. Division of Clinical Pharmacology, Department of Medicine, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, TN, USA

    André Diedrich

  5. Experimental and Clinical Research Center, Charité Medical Faculty, Berlin-Buch, Germany

    Friedrich C. Luft

  6. Max-Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine, Berlin-Buch, Germany

    Friedrich C. Luft

Authors
  1. Gordan Dzamonja
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  2. Jens Tank
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  3. Karsten Heusser
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  4. Ivan Palada
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  5. Zoran Valic
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  6. Darija Bakovic
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  7. Ante Obad
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  8. Vladimir Ivancev
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  9. Toni Breskovic
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  10. André Diedrich
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  11. Friedrich C. Luft
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  12. Zeljko Dujic
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  13. Jens Jordan
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jens Tank.

Additional information

G. Dzamonja and J. Tank contributed equally to this work.

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Dzamonja, G., Tank, J., Heusser, K. et al. Glossopharyngeal insufflation induces cardioinhibitory syncope in apnea divers. Clin Auton Res 20, 381–384 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10286-010-0075-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10286-010-0075-5

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