​                         Professor Francisco Leyva-León

An implantable loop recorder (ILR), or implantable cardiac monitor, monitors the heart rhythm and hear rate automatically. The device, which is the size of a pen cap, is implanted below the skin of the chest.



​How it works
The device is programmed to monitor the electrical activity of the heart continuously. The device is programmed to record abnormal heart rhythms. In addition, it records cardiac activity when you activate it with a remote control.  At the time when you have symptoms, you will need to place the remote control over the implanted device and press a button. This makes the device record the electrical activity of the heart before, during, and after symptoms, such as loss of consciousness or palpitations. 



Why have it ?

Traditional ambulatory heart rhythm monitoring consists of 24-hour recordings ('Holter' monitoring). This, however, more often than not misses the diagnosis when symptoms are infrequent. If you have only infrequent loss of consciousness or palpitations, traditional monitoring may is unlikely to be helpful.



What does it involve ?

A local anaesthetic is injected under the skin. A small incision is made on the left side of the chest and the implantable loop recorder is then inserted between the muscle and the skin of the left side of the chest. You will be able to go home 1 hour after the procedure.



What are the risks ?

Apart from a minor risk of infection and bruising, there are no other risks. You will have a small scar on the left side of the chest. 



Follow-up

At follow-up, you will have a monitor at home which will transmit any significant heart rhythm problems to the doctor securely via the internet. If you have had an event (loss of consciousness or palpitations), please contact F Leyva's secretary. We may contact you if we see any abnormalities on remote monitoring. We will then make an appointment. A routine appointment may be made for you, as some rhythm abnormalities that can be detected by the ILR may give information as to what has caused an event.