Holter monitors, event monitors, and cardiac outpatient telemetry use portable devices to measure and record your heart’s electrical activity for a day or more. Doctors often use these devices if an arrhythmia is suspected but other tests haven’t been able to locate one.
- A Holter monitor continuously monitors your heart over a period of time (usually about 24 hours). The data is stored in the device to be reviewed later by your doctor. It’s less effective if you have infrequent symptoms.
- An event monitor must be activated when you experience symptoms. Since they don’t run continuously, they can be used by patients who have less frequent symptoms of arrhythmia. The data is stored in the device to be reviewed later by your doctor.
- Cardiac outpatient telemetry works like these other devices, but instead of storing the data in the device, it transmits the data live, in real-time, to a doctor’s office or another central location.