Question: What is an implantable loop recorder, and how does this help my doctor figure out what is causing my palpitations?
Answer :There are different ways to check your heart for abnormal rhythms, and what it really means is we need to monitor you continuously or all the time. And we know sometimes you have symptoms, but about half the time you can have an irregular rhythm, that may even be dangerous, and you don't have any symptoms at all.
So, by watching the electrical signals, by putting little electrodes on your skin continuously, we are able to find some of those arrhythmias that you may not even know about.
Now, we can watch them temporarily or much longer term. The short term monitors, like the Holter monitor or a CardioNet monitor, you put on the outside, on the skin, and we can monitor those for two days for up to a few weeks. The implantable devices we actually put under the skin, and those can stay up to three years.