Heart Monitors – What every patient needs to know ?

Heart Monitors – What every patient needs to know?(Best Cardiologist in Bhopal ) 

 

My job as a cardiologist is to help make a diagnosis when indication arises. Once a diagnosis is made, patients can be presented therapy to help with symptoms. Patients experiencing any cardiac symptoms should consult a physician. One of the most general symptoms patients complain of is palpitations. Palpitations are any symptoms of extra hard beats, skipped beats, or heart fluttering. Most palpitations are not serious, and more of a nuisance. Infrequently palpitations can be associated with serious underlying heart conditions. It is very significant to have a diagnosis to delineate the more serious forms of palpitations from the more benign variety. Patients presenting with dizzy symptoms often need cardiac evaluation, to conclude if low heart rates or high heart rates are responsible for their symptoms.

Heart monitors are essential in making a diagnosis. First patients are screened with an ECG (electrocardiogram). An ECG has 12 electrodes attached to the skin that transmit electrical signals from the heart for 10 seconds. Often, 10 seconds isn’t sufficient time to make a diagnosis, so an ambulatory heart monitor is ordered.

What are the different types of heart monitors?

The two basic types of monitors are holter monitors and event monitors. Holter monitors can be worn for 24-48 hours, or even extended time of time. They give continuous monitoring of a person’s electrical heart activity (ECG). Event monitors only record activity when triggered by the patient when symptoms happen.

How do heart monitors work?

Electrodes are placed on the skin, and transmit ECG information to a storage space device. Wires typically transmit this; however newer monitors can now work via wireless technology. The information is either stored directly onto a hard drive, and downloaded in the doctor’s office for interpretation, or transmitted wirelessly to a cloud. The advantage of wireless cloud based technology is patients can be alerted in real time of any dangerous rhythm irregularity.

What if I am wearing my monitor and I don’t have any symptoms?

Detecting an arrhythmia is much like fishing. The longer you have your “line” in the water, the better chance you have in catching a fish, or in this cases an unequal heartbeat. While 24-48 hours may be enough for some, for others it may not be enough time to gather information in patients with intermittent heart rhythm disturbances. For some concerning symptoms, your doctor may order an “event monitor” or “extended holter” for up to 7 or 14 days. For very infrequent, but serious troubles like passing out, inject able loop records can be placed under the skin, and gather information for up to 3 years.

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