For this reason, many symptom-producing cardiac arrhythmias are difficult or impossible to diagnose with a standardelectrocardiogram.
There are several types of ambulatoryECG monitoringsystems available today to suit different clinical situations.
Standard vs.
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Ambulatory
A standard ECG records the electrical activity of your heart for only 10 seconds.
This ECG can reveal a lot of information about your heart.
Similarly, the symptoms that are produced by cardiac arrhythmias may also last only for a few seconds.
Ambulatory ECG monitoring systems can record your heart rhythm for prolonged periods of time.
This increases the odds of capturing and recording an intermittent, brief arrhythmia.
So when any of these symptoms are present, making a correct diagnosis is important.
Often, ambulatory monitoring is the most expeditious approach to a diagnosis.
These include Holter monitors, event monitors, patch monitors, and implantable monitors.
In addition, consumer devices are now available that can perform some of the functions of ambulatory ECG monitors.
The recorder is then analyzed to look for any cardiac arrhythmias that may have occurred during the recording period.
So, Holter monitoring is most often used for people who report frequent unexplained symptoms.
That is, their symptoms are very likely to occur during any given 24 to 48 hour period.
Some devices were worn continuously, and others were applied to the skin when symptoms were experienced.
After one or more recordings were made of a symptomatic event, the recorder would be returned for analysis.
You are still able to generate a recording yourself, any time you experience symptoms.
Your practitioner can use this information to advise you regarding further actions that should be taken.
They perform virtually all the functions of a modern event monitor.
They continuously record the heart rhythm.
The latest versions of implantable monitors allow virtually continuous monitoring of the heart rhythm.
They have mainly been helpful in the diagnosis of syncope of unknown origin.
TheReveal LINQ (Medtronic)and theConfirm Rx (St Jude)are FDA approved implantable heart rhythm monitors.
Consumer Devices
There is at least one consumer machine that functions as an event monitor.
When interpreting the results of this kind of monitoring, it is critical to keep in mind two things.
First, many cardiac arrhythmias are actually benign and may not produce any symptoms at all.
Second, all the symptoms commonly associated with cardiac arrhythmias may be due to non-arrhythmia causes.
If so, it is reasonable to pursue the treatment of the arrhythmia as a means of relieving symptoms.
