Palpitations and arrhythmias. Separating the benign from the dangerous.

Palpitations are a nonspecific symptom and do not necessarily imply serious heart disease. The vast majority of palpitations are benign. Goals in evaluation include detecting and identifying an arrhythmia, clarifying symptom severity, and defining the extent of underlying heart disease. If palpitations are infrequent and not accompanied by angina, congestive heart failure, or syncope, outpatient transtelephonic monitoring yields useful clinical information in most patients and is more cost-effective than Holter monitoring. Patients with major symptoms require hospitalization for aggressive cardiac evaluation and, possibly, electrophysiologic testing to guide treatment.