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Exercise-induced asystole with syncope in a healthy young man.

Dockery BK, Newman KP

From the Division of Cardiovascular Diseases, University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Memphis, Tennessee.

Exercise-related syncope is frequently an ominous symptom associated with advanced cardiovascular disease. Asystole during or after exercise is a rare occurrence in persons with structural heart disease and is an even rarer cause of syncope in healthy persons. Herein we report on a healthy 40-year-old man who was hospitalized after a syncopal episode that followed playing basketball. He recalled several near-syncopal episodes after strenuous exercise over the past 6 months, during which time he used marijuana. A loss of sinoatrial activity and appearance of ventricular asystole occurred immediately after monitored exercise to suggest parasympathetic dominance, which could be related to long-term cannabinoid use.

Published 16 August 2007 in Am J Med Sci, 334(2): 145-8.
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