Echocardiogram

The event recorder can evaluate uncommon symptoms, like palpitations and dizziness, which can be recorded when a button is pressed. Fainting spells can also be determined to be secondary to cardiac arrhythmias to something else. They are completely painless and noninvasive. The only preparation necessary is learning how to care for the device and learning how to record an event. After a few events have been documented, the device can be removed and the different arrhythmias that may have happened during the events are analyzed. Follow-up testing may be necessary if this test is abnormal and indicates something specific.

An implantable loop recorder is uncommonly used to assess a patient for cardiac arrhythmias. It is implanted under the skin and records the heart rhythm on a continuous basis—day and night. It lasts in the body for up to three years and can help detect unusual or rare heart rhythm problems in the patient.

An echocardiogram or “echo” is a specialized type of ultrasound designed to evaluate the heart. It uses sound waves that takes pictures of the heart muscle wall, the size of the heart’s chambers, the valves, the major blood vessels entering and leaving the heart, and the pericardium surrounding the heart. It can detect many different structural abnormalities of the heart but cannot necessarily detect coronary artery disease as these blood vessels are too small to see on an echocardiogram.

Figure 4 shows a typical echocardiography pattern:

Figure 4