Laughter-induced syncope

Seinfeld syncope is laughter-induced syncope (fainting). It is an unusual but recognized form of situational syncope likely to have a similar pathophysiological origin to tussive syncope.

There are few case reports of this syndrome in the literature. Patients, as in this case, might present initially to the ED, and laughter should be considered among the numerous differentials for syncope.

To date there have been few cases of Seinfeld Syncope documented in medical literature.

Further reading

• S. Braga, R. Manni, and R. Pedretti (August 2005). "Laughter-induced syncope". The Lancet 366 (9483): 426–426. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(05)67027-4.
• Matthew J Bragg (2006). "Fall about laughing: A case of laughter syncope". Emergency Medicine Australasia 18 (5–6): 518–519. doi:10.1111/j.1742-6723.2006.00877.x.
• Roland D. Thijs, Wouter Wieling, Horacio Kaufmann, and Gert van Dijk1 (2004-10-11). "Defining and classifying syncope". Clinical Autonomic Research 14 (1): i4–i8. Steinkopff. doi:10.1007/s10286-004-1002-4.
• C. Mathias, K. Deguchi, and I. Schatz. "Observations on recurrent syncope and presyncope in 641 patients". The Lancet 357 (9253): 348–353.
• Lois E. Krahn, James F. Lymp, Wendy R. Moore, Nancy Slocumb, and Michael H. Silber (2003-06-05). "Characterizing the Emotions That Trigger Cataplexy". Journal of Neuropsychiatry Clin Neurosci 17: 45–50. American Psychiatric Press, Inc..
• A. KENNEDY. "Non-epileptic causes of loss of consciousness". Medicine 32 (9): 15–17.