ABSTRACT
Introduction: The postural orthostatic tachycardia syndromeis heterogeneous group of disorder. When a healthy individualstands up, gravity causes about 10%-15% of his or her bloodto settle in the abdomen or limbs. This pooling of bloodmeans that less blood reaches the brain, the result of whichcan be a feeling of lightheadedness, darkening of vision, oreven fainting. Hence, the aim of the present study was toevaluate the clinical features and the effectiveness of nonpharmacological and pharmacological treatment in patientswith POTS.Material and Methods: A retrospective medical recordanalysis of the patients referred to pediatric cardiology unitof our Second Xiangya Hospital of Central South Universitysince June 2003 to February 2010 was done. This studyincluded 33 children patients aged 6 to 16 years old among17 male (mean 10.62±2.88 years) and 16 female (mean11.81±1.64 years) after medication within 14 days to 6 monthswith follow up record.Results: The most common presenting symptoms of POTSwere found to be dizziness or light-headedness (66.66%)followed by chest tightness (30.30%), syncope (27.27%),headache (24.24%) and pallor (24.24%) respectively. About75.5% of children patients met diagnostic criteria for POTSduring 5 to 10 minute of HUTT. There was significant statisticdifference in heart rate between before and after treatment oftotal patients during 5 and 10 minute of HUTT (P<0.05). Theoverall improvement found in 24(72.72%) patients whereas9(27.27%) patients not respond to the given treatment regimen.Conclusion: The most common presenting symptom of POTSwas dizziness or light-headedness. Most of the patients meetdiagnostic criteria for POTS during 5 to 10 minute durationof HUTT. Health education, ORS, propranolol and midodrinewere effective in treatment of POTS and helpful to diminishthe upright tachycardia. Whereas health education and healtheducation with midodrine hydrochloride treatment methodwere more likely effective than health education with ORSand health education with metoprolol method