Cardiac Catheterization is a medical procedure that cardiologists and heart specialists use to evaluate heart function and diagnose cardiovascular conditions.

During cardiac catheterization, a long narrow catheter is inserted into an artery or vein in your groin, neck or arm. This catheter is threaded through your blood vessel until it reaches your heart. Once the catheter is in place, your doctor can run the diagnostic tests.

Cardiac Catheterization is performed in a hospital by a cardiologist and a team of doctors, nurses, and other medical professionals.

Why is Cardiac Catheterization needed?

Your doctor might ask you to undergo cardiac catheterization to diagnose a heart problem or to determine a potential cause of chest pain.

During the procedure a doctor can:

Confirm the presence of congenital heart defect
Check for narrow blood vessels that can lead to chest pain
Look for problems with your heart’s valves
Measure the amount of oxygen in your heart
Measure the pressure inside your heart
Evaluate for further treatment

Procedure

Once the tube is inserted a dye like material is injected into the catheter for easy development of x-ray images when it moves through the heart’s chambers, valves and major vessels. In medical terms, this is called “coronary angiogram” (or coronary angiography).

The photographs obtained help in examining the sites of blockage and narrowing in the coronary artery. During the entire process, the patient is mildly sedated to ensure comfort but there is some amount of consciousness.

Benefits

The main benefit of cardiac catheterization is that it does not involve any large incision to open the chest and thus does not fall under a surgical procedure. The recovery time due to this is much shorter than that of surgery. However, in some cases, surgery may be advised afterwards.

The procedure itself is shorter than surgery, minus the preparation and recovery time. Cardiac cath is usually very safe as chances of problems developing during cardiac cath are slim.

Gujarat Superspeciality Hospital provides the best cardiac care in Vadodara. Our medical professionals are trained to provide the best care to all our patients. To know more about our services, check our website.