Paroxysmal atrial tachycardia recorded by Holter monitoring during an episode of fear. A case report.

A twenty-four-year-old, white, athletic woman, free of heart disease, experienced an episode of fear when she was assaulted in the street without physical injury while under-going twenty-four-hour Holter monitoring. She developed an important sympathetic response in which, besides the symptoms characterized by palpitations, chest pain, dyspnea, asthenia, dizziness, nausea, and profuse cold sweating, she had an episode of paroxysmal atrial tachycardia. The causes and mechanism of this not well-documented event in humans are discussed.