- With Mayo Clinic neurologist
Jerry W. Swanson, M.D.
read biographyclose windowBiography of
Jerry W. Swanson, M.D.
Jerry W. Swanson, M.D.
Dr. Jerry Swanson is a board-certified neurologist at Mayo Clinic and is a professor of neurology at Mayo Clinic College of Medicine. He has a special interest in headache disorders and medical education.
Dr. Swanson, a Lacon, Ill., native, was appointed to the Mayo Clinic staff in 1982 and works in the Department of Neurology with about 90 other physicians. He formerly chaired the Headache Division in the Neurology Department at Mayo Clinic and works with headache subspecialists around the world. He has published and lectured widely on headache disorders. He also serves as Assistant Dean for Assessment in Mayo Medical School.
"In a manner similar to the printing press, Internet technology enables the unprecedented ability to communicate with the global community about health information," Dr. Swanson says. "There is no doubt that the knowledgeable individual contributes greatly to his or her own health care, and now we can share information much more widely."
"There is much information already available about health care on the Internet. Unfortunately, much of it is not founded on sound principles. It is exciting to be a part of the MayoClinic.com team and contribute to the creation of a reliable and timely health resource."
Dr. Swanson is the neurology editor for "Mayo Clinic Family Health Book" and has reviewed articles for "Mayo Clinic Health Letter" and "Mayo Clinic Women's HealthSource." He is also editor-in-chief of the "Mayo Clinic on Headache" book, published in 2004. In 2008 the magazine "Women's Health" named him one of America's Top Doctors for Women.
Tests and diagnosis (1)
- Tilt table test: Why is it performed?
Mayo Clinic Health Manager
Get free personalized health guidance for you and your family.
Get Started
About our e-newsletters
- Free e-newsletters
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- We do not share your e-mail address
Housecall, our weekly general-interest e-newsletter, keeps you up to date on a wide variety of health topics with timely, reliable, practical information, recipes, blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts and more. Our biweekly topic-specific e-newsletters also include blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts, and other useful information that will help you manage your health.
Housecall Archives
Mayo Clinic Housecall
Stay up to date on the latest health information.
What you get
- Free weekly e-newsletter
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- Recipes, tools and other helpful information
- We do not share your e-mail address
Question
Tilt table test: Why is it performed?
What is a tilt table test used for?
Answer
from Jerry W. Swanson, M.D.
A tilt table test is used to evaluate the cause of unexplained fainting or severe lightheadedness.
During the test, your blood pressure and heart rate are monitored. You begin by lying flat on a table. Then, the table is tilted to raise the upper part of your body — simulating a change in position from lying down to standing up. This test allows doctors to evaluate your body's cardiovascular response to this change in position.
When you stand up, gravity causes blood to pool in your leg veins, reducing the amount of blood that returns to your heart. This causes your blood pressure to drop (orthostatic hypotension). Normally, your autonomic nervous system rapidly accommodates this effect by narrowing (constricting) your blood vessels and increasing your heart rate. But if these mechanisms don't work normally, the drop in blood pressure can be severe enough to cause fainting.
The tilt table test can help detect orthostatic hypotension. Causes of orthostatic hypotension may include diseases that affect the autonomic nervous system, such as diabetic autonomic neuropathy and Shy-Drager syndrome.
Next question
