Adams-Stokes disease

Adams-Stokes disease
Sudden collapse into unconsciousness due to a disorder of heart rhythm in which there is a slow or absent pulse resulting in syncope (fainting) with or without convulsions. In this condition, the normal heartbeat passing from the upper chambers of the heart to the lower chambers is interrupted. This results in a condition called a "heart block." When a heart block occurs, the heart rate usually slows considerably. This can cause inadequate blood flow to the brain and result in fainting. This condition goes by a baffling number of names including the Adams-Stokes, Morgagni, Morgagni-Adams-Stokes, Spens syndrome, and Stokes-Adams disease or syndrome. Roberts Adams (1791-1875) and William Stokes (1804-1878) were Irish physicians. Stokes is also remembered for Cheyne-Stokes respiration, a pattern of breathing characteristically seen in coma. Thomas Spens (1764-1842) was a Scottish physician. Giovanni Battista Morgagni (1682-1771) was an Italian anatomist and pathologist. Although Adams, Stokes, and Spens did describe the syndrome (separately) in the early 19th century, the first description was, in fact, recorded in 1761 by Morgagni. All of these eponyms are now declining in use as our understanding of the disease process advances. The preferred name is cardiovascular syncope.

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Adams-Stokes disease n STOKES-ADAMS SYNDROME

Medical dictionary. 2011.

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  • Adams-Stokes syndrome — noun recurrent sudden attacks of unconsciousness caused by impaired conduction of the impulse that regulates the heartbeat • Syn: ↑heart block, ↑Stokes Adams syndrome, ↑atrioventricular block • Hypernyms: ↑cardiac arrhythmia, ↑arrhythmia * * *… …   Useful english dictionary

  • Adams-Stokes syndrome — /ad euhmz stohks / Pathol. See Stokes Adams syndrome. Also called Adams Stokes disease. * * * …   Universalium

  • Stokes-Adams syndrome — Stokes Ad·ams syndrome .stōks ad əmz n fainting and convulsions induced by complete heart block with a pulse rate of 40 beats per minute or less called also Adams Stokes attack, Adams Stokes disease, Adams Stokes syndrome, Stokes Ad …   Medical dictionary

  • Stokes-Adams syndrome — noun recurrent sudden attacks of unconsciousness caused by impaired conduction of the impulse that regulates the heartbeat • Syn: ↑heart block, ↑Adams Stokes syndrome, ↑atrioventricular block • Hypernyms: ↑cardiac arrhythmia, ↑arrhythmia * * *… …   Useful english dictionary

  • Stokes-Adams syndrome — /stohks ad euhmz/, Med. unconsciousness accompanying atrioventricular heart block, sometimes characterized by weakness, irregular pulse, and intermittent convulsive or nonconvulsive seizures. Also, Stokes Adams disease, Adams Stokes syndrome,… …   Universalium

  • Stokes Adams attack — Sudden collapse into unconsciousness due to a disorder of heart rhythm in which there is a slow or absent pulse resulting in syncope (fainting) with or without convulsions. In this condition, the normal heartbeat passing from the upper chambers… …   Medical dictionary

  • Disease — Illness or sickness often characterized by typical patient problems (symptoms) and physical findings (signs). Disruption sequence: The events that occur when a fetus that is developing normally is subjected to a destructive agent such as the… …   Medical dictionary

  • Adams — Sir William, British surgeon, 1760–1829. Robert, Irish physician, 1791–1875. See A. Stokes disease, Stokes A. disease, A. Stokes syncope, A. Stokes syndrome, Stokes A. syndrome, Morgagni A. Stokes syndrome …   Medical dictionary

  • Stokes — Sir George Gabriel, British physicist and mathematician, 1819–1903. See stoke, S. law (2), S. law (3). William, Irish physician, 1804–1878. See S. law (1), Cheyne S. psychosis, Cheyne S. respiration, S. Adams disease, Adams S. disease, Morgagni… …   Medical dictionary

  • Stokes-Ad|ams disease — «STOHKS AD uhmz», a slow, progressive degeneration of the heart muscle, accompanied by fainting and dizzy spells, convulsions, dropsy, slow pulse, and shortness of breath. ╂[< William Stokes, 1804 1878, and Robert Adams, 1791 1875, Irish… …   Useful english dictionary

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