Recurrent Dizziness of Cardiac Origin Confirmed by Holter Monitoring

ABSTRACT

Ineffective cerebral perfusion by low cardiac output may cause various types of dizziness like mild lightheadedness, vertigo or presyncope, and sometimes it can be the only heralding symptom. Differential diagnosis with other causes of dizziness is important because the symptom may progress into life-threatening bradyarrythmia and loss of consciousness. There are several literatures that reporting the association between cardiac disease and dizziness and their improvement with treatment of cardiac problem including pacemaker placement. But these are only indirect evidences to explain the cause-symptom relationship. We experienced 48-year old woman who has had recurrent dizziness of rotatory type lasting for about 5 seconds since first year, and then diagnosed atrioventricular block after. She has been having anti-hypertension medications for 2 years. She didn't have any abnormalities in electrocardiography, chest x-ray, or routine blood tests. There were no abnormalities in vestibular function test and electronystgmography. Her result of 24-hour Holter monitoring clearly elucidated temporal relationship between arrhythmia and her episodic symptoms of dizziness. The authors report a case with review of literatures about cardiogenic dizziness.