Abstract

CARVAJAL, José J; CLAVIJO, Claudia; BAUTISTA, Luis J  and  MORA, Guillermo. Clinical characteristics of patients undergoing external monitoring of events. Rev. Colomb. Cardiol. [online]. 2014, vol.21, n.5, pp.278-283. ISSN 0120-5633.  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rccar.2013.11.001.

There are a variety of methods that can be used for the evaluation of patients with symptoms suggestive of cardiac arrhythmia; in this regard, external monitoring of events can improve the sensitivity of diagnosis. A descriptive, retrospective and cross-sectional study, which included review of the results of external monitoring of events of 203 patients was performed. The most common reason for requesting external monitoring of events was palpitations in 161 patients (79.3%), followed by syncope in 21 patients (10.3%). The most common diagnosis was normal sinus rhythm with no other abnormalities in 59 patients (29%), followed by sinus tachycardia in 54 (26.6%), ventricular extrasystoles in 24 (11.8%), atrial extrasystoles in 17 (8.3%), non-sustained atrial tachycardia in 12 (5.9%), and less frequently supraventricular tachycardia in 8 (3.94%), non-sustained ventricular tachycardia in 5 patients (2.4%) and interventricular conduction disturbance in 6 (2.9%). This is the first descriptive study of external monitoring of events held in Colombia. From the epidemiological and diagnosis electrocardiographic point of view, the findings are similar to results of previous studies, with the limitations that provides this type of analysis.

Keywords : External event monitor; Holter; Arrhythmias; Syncope.

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