Holter monitoring versus programmed ventricular stimulation.

Both Holter monitoring and programmed ventricular stimulation are useful techniques for guiding antiarrhythmic therapy. However, they are not both appropriate for all patients. Holter monitoring is only useful in patients who have consistent and frequent ventricular ectopic beats, and programmed ventricular stimulation requires that the patients have an arrhythmia that is reproducible and inducible. Patients for whom these techniques are used to identify agents that are effective for control of their arrhythmias generally have a better prognosis than those patients for whom an effective agent is not found. Programmed ventricular stimulation may have a better predictive value than Holter monitoring, but the comparison may not be valid, because the procedures are used in different types of patients.