24 Hour Holter Monitor:

This test may be done with out any prior authorization. The patient just comes to the Respiratory Therapy Department and has the monitor put on. The patient wears the monitor for 24 hours, returns to the department where the recorder is then removed and downloaded into the computer and results are printed out within a few minutes and results are sent to the ordering Physician for their review. In medicine, a Holter monitor (often simply “Holter” or occasionally ambulatory electrocardiography device) is a portable device for continuously monitoring various electrical activity of the cardiovascular system for at least 24 hours (often for two weeks at a time). The Holter’s most common use is for monitoring heart activity (electrocardiography or ECG), but it can also be used for monitoring brain activity (electroencephalography or EEG). Its extended recording period is sometimes useful for observing occasional cardiac arrhythmias or epileptic events which would be difficult to identify in a shorter period of time. For patients having more transient symptoms, a cardiac event monitor which can be worn for a month or more can be used.