When a person has any problems with the heart, he turns to a cardiologist for help. The doctor conducts an electrocardiographic study to assess the he alth of the heart muscle.
But the ECG does not reveal all the problems, because it gives a momentary picture. For example, if a patient has arrhythmia attacks from time to time, but during a visit to the doctor the heart will work normally, there will be no deviations on the cardiogram. In order to identify a pathology that is not visible at the time of recording the cardiogram, an ECG Holter is used.
What is a Holter?
This is a portable medical device that is attached to the patient's body and uses electrodes to record the electrocardiogram and blood pressure for twenty-four hours. The ECG Holter is named after the inventor of the device, biophysicist Norman Holter. This American researcher developed and first applied the method of daily monitoring of the work of the heart in 1961. By analyzing the data obtained during the study, the cardiologist will be able to identify violations. But for thatIn order for the monitoring picture to be objective, the patient needs to lead a normal lifestyle during the day: go to work, walk, play sports.
At the same time, the doctor will ask the patient to keep a diary in which periods of rest, physical activity, emotional stress, food intake and medications will be noted. In case of pain, it will be necessary to note their nature, duration, time and causes of occurrence. In some cases, the study can be carried out within two, three, and sometimes seven days.
When is an ECG Holter used?
Indications for the use of Holter are patient complaints of pain in the heart of unknown origin, dizziness, palpitations, loss of consciousness. A cardiologist may order an ECG Holter to detect the presence of dangerous arrhythmias if the patient has had a myocardial infarction, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, or suspected coronary heart disease.
Holter is used when it is necessary to evaluate the effectiveness of the pacemaker or after antiarrhythmic treatment. When Norman Holter first made his invention, the device weighed 40 kilograms, and the patient carried the transmitter in a backpack on his back. The cardiogram was recorded and processed by a stationary receiver. A modern ECG Holter device weighs about 500 grams and is small in size, but despite this, it can interfere with the patient during sleep. In addition, the holter is an expensive complex electronic device, to whichshould be treated with care, protected from vibrations and shocks, from exposure to high and low temperatures. Holter cannot be wet, so the patient will have to refuse to take a bath and shower during the study.
Holter monitoring of the heart is effective if episodes of deterioration in the patient's condition occur within twenty-four hours, otherwise additional research methods must be applied.
