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Holter Monitoring
Holter monitoring is a continuous recording of your heart rhythm, usually for 24 to 48 hours, while you go about your usual daily activities. It is especially useful in diagnosing abnormal heart rhythms, or arrhythmias. Doctors can diagnose an arrhythmia by obtaining an electrocardiogram (EKG or ECG), a recording of the hearts’ electrical activity. Quite often, however, an arrhythmia will not occur during the brief period (less than a minute) of actual EKG recording. If your doctor suspects you have an arrhythmia, he or she may prescribe a Holter monitor to record the EKG over a period of 24 hours or longer.
You will be fitted with the electrodes and recorder by a technician or nurse at Abbott Northwestern Hospital, or at your community clinic or hospital. Several areas of your chest will be cleansed and abraded (lightly scraped) to ensure good electrode contact. Men may need to have areas of their chest shaved. Next the electrodes are attached to the chest and connected by wires to the recorder. The electrodes and wires are often secured with tape. It is very important that all electrodes remain attached for the entire recording period. The technician will then start the recording.
You will be provided with a diary booklet into which you will enter the time and your activity (i.e. walking, climbing stairs, bowel movement, sleeping, taking medications, etc.) when you experience symptoms during the recording period. Typical symptoms include palpitations, chest pain, shortness of breath and dizziness. This diary is very important: it enables technicians and doctors to correlate your activities and symptoms with the EKG recording.
The recorder and leads are not waterproof. Therefore, sponge bathe only during your test.
Once you have completed your 24 to 48 hour testing period, you will return to Abbott Northwestern Hospital, or to your community hospital or clinic, where a technician will help you remove the recorder, electrodes and wires. Once returned, the tape or disk are scanned by an analyst and analyzed on a computer. The printed report is then reviewed by a doctor. Final results are usually availavle within a few days. The information obtained from a Holter monitoring helps your doctor to make an accurate diagnosis and develop a treatment plan that’s best for you.
Other tests for this sub-specialty
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