Holter Monitoring Event Monitoring

For people who have irregular beating of the heart, palpitations, or unexplained spells in which they may lose consciousness, Holter Monitoring can help diagnose the problem. If you are known to have an arrhythmia and are being treated for it, we can determine if the treatment is adequate with the use of a Holter monitor. Furthermore, a Holter monitor can also be used to detect subtle electrical changes in the heart caused from an insufficient blood supply.

A Holter Monitor looks like a tape recorder and is worn around your waist and carried for a period of 24 hours. The tape recorder connects with wires to leads on your body and records all 24 hours of heartbeats to be analyzed by physicians once the device is returned to the facility. However, some arrhythmias or episodes do not occur every day and, in this case, a Holter monitor would not be the best test to use to diagnose the problem.

In these cases of intermittent arrhythmias, it is often better to use an Event Monitor. An Event Monitor looks like a deck of cards and is given out for periods of time and can be carried in the pocket or purse to be used only when symptoms occur. The device can be applied to the body to will transmit a signal to another recording device when symptoms are experienced.