An implantable loop recorder can help answer questions about your heart that other heart-monitoring devices don't provide. It allows for long-term heart rhythm monitoring. It can capture information that a standard electrocardiogram (ECG or EKG) or Holter monitor misses because some heart rhythm abnormalities occur infrequently. For example, if you have a standard ECG to help figure out why you're having fainting spells, it will only record any related heart rhythm abnormalities during the few minutes of the monitoring period - usually about five minutes. Because an implantable loop recorder monitors your heart signals for a much longer time, it's more likely to capture what your heart is doing during your next fainting spell. This information may help your doctor make a definite diagnosis and develop a treatment plan. Implantable loop recorders are one of the newer heart-monitoring devices. Researchers have evaluated their safety and benefit over the last 10 years. A study of 579 people with fainting spells showed that implantable loop recorders had a higher rate of diagnosis of heart rhythm problems than did other monitoring devices. Researchers also examined the value of implantable loop recorders in people who had a stroke. Long-term heart monitoring uncovered heart rhythm problems that caused the stroke better than 24-hour monitoring did. Doctors used these results to guide treatment with blood-thinning drugs (anticoagulation therapy) to prevent another stroke.

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