Cardiac Holter monitor

A cardiac Holter monitor records your heart’s electrical activity while you go about your normal daily life.

A Holter monitor gives your doctor information about your heart rate and rhythm, and how it changes with different activity. This can help diagnose a heart condition or give more information about an existing condition.

Your doctor may order this test if you’ve had:

• heart palpitations
• dizziness
• fainting
• shortness of breath
• another test that identified an unusual heart rate or rhythm.

Before your appointment

You won’t be able to have a bath or shower while wearing the Holter monitor, so you may want to have one before your appointment.

What happens?

You will have the Holter monitor put on at hospital or in a clinic.

Sticky pads (electrodes) will be placed on your chest and attached to the Holter monitor recorder.

This recorder fits into a pouch and is worn around your waist or shoulder, under your clothes. Some monitors are small enough to be clipped onto your clothing.

Your heart activity will be recorded continuously, usually over 24 to 48 hours but sometimes for longer.

At the appointment you’ll be given a diary to record your daily activities while you have the monitor on. You’ll need to write down:

• your activity during the day
• any symptoms you have and what you were doing at the time
• the time you went to bed and got up.

The appointment usually takes between half an hour to an hour.

After the test

You’ll be given an appointment time to return the diary and have the monitor taken off.

You won’t get the results from the monitor on the day. The information will be analysed and sent to the doctor who ordered the test.

Key things to remember