title: Using a Cardiac Event Recorder in Children with Potentially Arrhythmia-Related Symptoms.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  In this study, we reported our experience with the use of cardiac event recorders in pediatric patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  We evaluated 583 patients fitted with an event recorder (15-30 days) between March 2010 and November 2014 at our clinic. Excluded from the study were 117 patients with no recorded events and six with records contaminated by electrocardiogram artifacts. All of the patients received electrocardiograms, Holter monitoring, and echocardiography before the cardiac event recording.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The patient sample consisted of 460 patients (64% female). The mean age was 12.8 ± 4.1 years. The median number of recorded events was 7. The indications included palpitations in 336 (73%) patients, syncope in 27 (6%) patients, and chest pain and palpitations in 97 (21%) patients. Whereas 64 patients (14%) had structural heart disease according to echocardiographic examination, the remaining patients had normal echocardiographic examination results. The most frequent cardiac comorbidities were mitral valve prolapse (6%), operated tetralogy of Fallot (1.5%), and complicated congenital heart diseases with single ventricle physiology (1%). The recorded events were sinus tachycardia in 113 (25%) patients, supraventricular tachycardia in 35 (8%) patients, ventricular extrasystole in 20 (4%) patients, supraventricular extrasystole in nine (2%) patients, and ventricular tachycardia in two (0.4%) patients. Based on the event recorder and follow-up electrocardiogram findings, 46 patients received an electrophysiology study/ablation. The symptom-rhythm correlation was 39%.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In the presence of possible arrhythmia-related symptoms in children, a cardiac event recorder can be considered a useful primary diagnostic method. More research on this topic is needed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatric Cardiology, Mehmet Akif Ersoy Cardiovascular Research and Training Hospital, Istanbul, Turkey.
authors.forename: Murat
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Saygi
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatric Cardiology, Mehmet Akif Ersoy Cardiovascular Research and Training Hospital, Istanbul, Turkey.
authors.forename: Yakup
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ergul
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatric Cardiology, Mehmet Akif Ersoy Cardiovascular Research and Training Hospital, Istanbul, Turkey.
authors.forename: Isa
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Ozyilmaz
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatric Cardiology, Mehmet Akif Ersoy Cardiovascular Research and Training Hospital, Istanbul, Turkey.
authors.forename: Fatma Sevinc
authors.initials: FS
authors.lastname: Sengul
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatric Cardiology, Mehmet Akif Ersoy Cardiovascular Research and Training Hospital, Istanbul, Turkey.
authors.forename: Osman
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Guvenc
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatric Cardiology, Mehmet Akif Ersoy Cardiovascular Research and Training Hospital, Istanbul, Turkey.
authors.forename: Eyup
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Aslan
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatric Cardiology, Mehmet Akif Ersoy Cardiovascular Research and Training Hospital, Istanbul, Turkey.
authors.forename: Alper
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Guzeltas
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatric Cardiology, Mehmet Akif Ersoy Cardiovascular Research and Training Hospital, Istanbul, Turkey.
authors.forename: Celal
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Akdeniz
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatric Cardiology, Mehmet Akif Ersoy Cardiovascular Research and Training Hospital, Istanbul, Turkey.
authors.forename: Volkan
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Tuzcu
mesh_terms: D001145:Arrhythmias, Cardiac / Q000175:diagnosis*; D002648:Child; D004452:Echocardiography; D015716:Electrocardiography, Ambulatory; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male
keywords: arrhythmia; cardiac event recorder; children; palpitation; syncope