Holter monitor

A portable device that continuously records an electrocardiogram, usually during ordinary daily activity. Its extended recording can reveal intermittent heart-rhythm abnormalities missed by a brief clinical ECG.

Electrocardiography: The measurement and recording of the heart’s electrical activity from electrodes on the body. A Holter monitor is a portable form of electrocardiography.
Palpitations: The subjective sensation of a forceful, rapid, fluttering, or irregular heartbeat. A recording can help determine whether reported episodes coincide with a rhythm abnormality.
Resting electrocardiogram: A short electrocardiographic recording made while a person is resting, typically in a clinical setting. Its brief snapshot may miss abnormalities that continuous Holter recording captures.
Cardiac conduction system: The network of specialized heart cells that initiates and conducts electrical impulses coordinating heartbeats. Its electrical activity produces the patterns recorded by a Holter monitor.
Twenty-four-hour Holter monitoring: Continuous ambulatory ECG recording, commonly used to assess heart rhythm over a single day. This is the conventional recording duration associated with Holter monitoring.
Electrode: A conductive contact that transfers electrical signals between the body and a recording or measuring device. Skin electrodes detect the electrical signals used to form the Holter tracing.
Syncope: A brief loss of consciousness caused by temporary reduction of blood flow to the brain. Monitoring may help investigate suspected rhythm-related fainting when episodes are intermittent.
Exercise electrocardiography: ECG recording during controlled physical exercise, often used to assess responses to exertion. Unlike a Holter, it examines a short, supervised period of deliberate exercise.
P wave: The ECG waveform representing electrical depolarization of the atria. Holter interpretation uses P waves to assess atrial activity and rhythm.
Seven-day Holter monitoring: Continuous ambulatory ECG monitoring maintained for approximately one week. Longer recordings increase the chance of capturing symptoms that do not occur daily.

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