Usually, swallow syncope is caused by upper gastrointestinal-cardiac vagovagal reflexes and rapid gastric distention that are initiated by swallowing. Although rare, swallow syncope can impair a patient's quality of life significantly.

How is swallow syncope treated?

Treatment. In treating patients with swallow syncope, surgical correction of esophageal pathology has been successful in some cases such as esophageal carcinoma and esophageal stricture12). Of the current medical options, the discontinuation or reduction of aggravating drugs (eg., digoxin, ACE inhibitors etc.)

How common is swallow syncope?

Swallow syncope is a relatively rare cause of syncope that belongs to the neurally-mediated reflex syncopal syndromes. It occurs due to a vagal reflex during deglutition causing inhibition of the cardiac conduction system.