A 9-year-old boy with exertional syncope.

BACKGROUND

Syncope in the pediatric population is a common and mostly benign event. There is a subset of patients, however, in whom exertional syncope is the manifestation of a life-threatening cardiac abnormality.

OBJECTIVE

We present a rare but serious cause of syncope in children that often presents as sudden cardiac death.

CASE REPORT: A 9-year-old boy presented to the Emergency Department (ED) after an episode of exertional syncope while in physical education class. This was the patient's second episode of exercise-induced syncope within a 2-year period. There was no family history of sudden death or cardiac disease. The child had not undergone any prior diagnostic work-up for the syncope. He was admitted to the hospital for further evaluation, and was found to have an anomalous left coronary artery on transthoracic echocardiogram.

CONCLUSION

As a potential precursor of sudden death, exertional syncope in pediatric patients should prompt a thorough evaluation for a cardiac etiology.