ECG holter – 24-hour ecg holter monitoring

ECG Holter monitoring is a non-invasive diagnostic procedure, that is, a special cardiac monitoring procedure lasting 24 or 48 hours. Indications for Holter ECG are: heart rhythm disorders (arrhythmias), consciousness crises, dizziness…

The method (appliance) itself was named after Dr. Norman J. Holter, who invented this type of heart rate monitoring, and the use of Holter ECG began in clinical practice in the 1960s.

ECG Holter recording is performed by placing electrodes, which are connected to a small apparatus, on the patient’s chest. The device itself, slightly larger than a mobile phone, records the electrocardiogram of the patient at all times, usually within 24 hours. The patient, while wearing the holter, performs the usual daily activities, which he records in a diary and communicates to the cardiologist, in order for the findings to be interpreted as accurately as possible.

While wearing the device, the patient should not bathe, move cables or take off the electrodes (for which he is provided with detailed instructions when given the device).

After 24 hours of wear, medical personnel remove the holter from the patient.

The data is transferred from the device to the computer and the cardiologist analyzes the ECG of the patient for the entire period of wear (mean heart rate, ST segment depression, heart rhythm disturbances, break, QTc interval and heart rate variability as an independent diagnostic indicator…). Based on the ECG analysis, the cardiologist determines if there are heart rhythm disturbances, impulse conduction disorders, episodes of ischemia and suggests further diagnostics or treatment.

In this way, an objective insight into the condition of the heart muscle and its performance is achieved during 24h or 48h.