Cardiovascular

What is Cardiac Catheterization?

Cardiac catheterization is performed to further diagnose coronary artery disease, valvular heart disease, congestive heart failure, and/or certain congenital (present at birth) heart conditions. In cardiac catheterization (often called cardiac cath), a very small hollow tube, or catheter, is advanced from a blood vessel in the groin or arm through the aorta and into the heart. Once the catheter is in place, several diagnostic techniques may be used. The tip of the catheter can be placed into various parts of the heart to measure the pressures within the chambers and how much oxygen is in the blood. It’s also used to get information about the pumping ability of the heart muscle. The catheter can be advanced into the coronary arteries where a contrast dye can injected into the arteries. The use of fluoroscopy (a special type of X-ray, similar to an X-ray “movie”) assists our physicians in the location of blockages in the coronary arteries as the contrast dye moves through the arteries.