24-Hour Holter ECG Assessment

Experience a consistent standard of
cardiovascular care.

At The Cardio Clinic, Dr. Tan Jian Jing employs this method to gain a comprehensive understanding of your heart’s behavior during routine daily activities. This non-invasive, simple, and safe procedure provides invaluable insights into the heart’s function, aiding in the diagnosis and management of various cardiac conditions.

Why a Holter recording is used

A Holter monitor is a small recorder worn continuously that captures every heartbeat over a period of ordinary daily activity. Its value is time: a resting ECG records a few seconds, whereas a Holter records through work, exercise, meals and sleep, which is when intermittent symptoms usually occur.

The recording is used to look for rhythm disturbances, to link symptoms to what the heart was doing at that moment, to check how well a known rhythm problem is controlled, and to assess pauses or slow rates that may not appear at rest.

Wearing the monitor

Small electrodes are attached to the chest and connected to the recorder, which is worn on a belt or strap. You continue your normal routine, keeping the device dry. You will usually be asked to keep a simple diary of symptoms and activities, because matching the time of a symptom to the tracing is often what makes the recording useful.

Interpreting the result

The recording is analysed for rhythm, rate, pauses and the relationship between any symptoms recorded in the diary and the tracing at that time. A recording that captures no abnormality during a symptom-free period does not exclude a rhythm problem; where symptoms are infrequent, longer or event-triggered monitoring may be suggested instead.

If you experience fainting, chest pain that does not settle, or severe breathlessness while wearing the monitor, seek medical attention immediately rather than waiting for the recording to finish. In an emergency in Singapore, call 995.