Ambulatory Electrocardiographic (ECG) monitoring is used to help diagnose intermittent and infrequent cardiac arrhythmias over a long period of time.
It can be used for 24 hours, 48 hours or up to 1 week. It records your heart rhythm over longer periods of time to greatly increase the odds of capturing and recording this intermittent, but significant, arrhythmia.
An ambulatory ECG is most commonly used when a person has symptoms that could be explained by an irregular heartbeat.
These symptoms often include the following:
• Syncope (fainting)
• Near syncope
• Sudden light headedness
• Recurrent palpitations
Ambulatory ECG monitoring is routinely used to:
• Assess how effective a previous ablation procedure has been.
• Screen for potentially dangerous arrhythmias in people with conditions known to produce such arrhythmias.
• Look for signs of asymptomatic heart when there are signs that the heart intermittently is starved of oxygen in those with known coronary artery disease.
Look for episodes of asymptomatic atrial fibrillation in those who have previously suffered a stroke with unknown causes.
The ECG monitor records all of your heart beats over a specific period of time. It takes a little while to go through all the data collected to establish if the rhythm of your heart is normal or not.
Once your cardiologist has been through your results, they will be explained to you and will make you aware of any next steps if needed.