After Open Heart Surgery:The Holter Monitor Experience

If heart palpitations develop,you may be referred to your local hospital cardiology department for attachment of an ambulatory electrocardiogram,or Holter monitor.This ingenious device was developed by Norman Holter,MD in the late 1940s.It is the size of a deck of cards and originally was a tape recorder;today,it is commonly a digital recorder with a flash card.Usually worn for 24 hours,the little machine is powered by two AA batteries and is connected to the chest by a number of electrodes,or leads.
The Holter monitor is indicated when a patient is suspected of possibly having a cardiac arrhythmia.It gives the medical team an extended look at the patient's heart rate and rhythm.Even silent abnormalities,of which the patient is unaware,may be detected.
A few emergency situations are detected by the monitor and the patient must be hospitalised.Mostly,patients are found to have a condition either not requiring treatment or one that may be addressed at the standard pace.
The monitor is clipped to your belt,put in your shirt pocket,or worn around your neck.As well,the patient fills out a short but carefully timed diary of activities and symptoms to aid in the interpretation of the data,which are uploaded to a computer with analytical software when the monitor is removed.The software flags any irregularities for the technician and cardiologist to focus on along with the diary material.
Wearing the device is mildly stressful as you wonder whether it will remain properly attached for the whole period and so on,as well as what the results could portend for you.
What you and your family would do if it recorded a serious problem is something that occurs to you.Perhaps you will not be so eager to get that telephone call when the report is in.On the other hand,you are intrigued by the science and engineering and curious about what is going on internally.
Probably it is nothing,you think,or else it will lead to more testing.Among the undesirable scenarios,you may need an implantable medical device such as a pacemaker or defibrillator.Maybe they will put you back on the anticoagulant Warfarin.
It is all a part of being a heart patient,a role you didn't seek but you might as well excel at along with all else in your life,for the benefit of everyone concerned.
The British firm Cardionetics makes a Holter monitor which analyses the data on its own.