Holter Monitoring

This is basically a tape recorder of the heart rhythm. Many patient come to the hospital complaining of 'palpitations" which is a word used by people to describe the fact that feel there heart beating funny or abnormally. Blackouts are another common reason for doing this test. Unfortunately, like a watched pot that never boils, when you arrive at the hospital, many times the symptoms are not present. Your doctor may suspect that an abnormal heart rhythm is responsible and this test is intended to find out what kind of heart rhythm you are having when you feel your typical symptoms. To find out, you will be asked to wear a special tape recorder for 24 or 48 hours. Hopefully in that time, you will experience the same symptoms and the tape recorder will save them. When you return, the technician will play back the tape in a special machine that reads it and print out the findings. One typical recording is shown below:

The technician will escort you into a private room and ask you to remove your shirt or top. He/she will then prepares the skin by wiping small areas clean with some gauze. He/she will then put some adhesive electrodes onto four or five areas (shoulder, chest) and then snap wires to connect to these electrodes. These wires then hook to a small tape recorder box that is within a cloth carrying bag so that you can wear it around your neck for the duration of the test. If you are asked to wear the tape recorder for more than 2 days, the technician will teach you how to change batteries or tapes for the recorder. You will then get dressed and leave the room. During the time that you wear the recorder, you will also carry a diary. Please write down your activities, any symptoms and the time of day that you feel them in the diary. Please be careful not to get the recorder wet. You will not be able to shower while you wear this recorder. The test is usually quite painless. However, wearing a tape recorder for a couple of days may be slightly annoying to some and those with sensitive skin may develop a slight rash to the tape adhesive. Please let the technician know if you have an allergy or skin sensititvity to tape adhesive.