Cardiac Catheterization

What is Cardiac Catheterization?

Cardiac Catheterization (cardiac cath) is a procedure that helps doctors see how well your heart is working. Doctors insert a thin, hollow tube called a catheter into an artery in your arm or leg which leads to your heart. The catheter in this image is used to deliver dye that will show up on an X-ray (contrast dye) to visualize the coronary arteries.

This is a procedure done on the heart. A doctor inserts a thin plastic tube (catheter) (KATH'eh-ter) into an artery or vein in the arm or leg. From there it can be advanced into the chambers of the heart or into the coronary arteries.

This test can measure blood pressure within the heart and how much oxygen is in the blood. It's also used to get information about the pumping ability of the heart muscle. Catheters are also used to inject dye into the coronary arteries. This is called coronary angiography (an"je-OG'rah-fe) or coronary arteriography (ar-te"re-OG'rah-fe). Catheters with a balloon on the tip are used in the procedure called percutaneous transluminal coronary intervention (PCI). Catheterization is also done on infants and children to examine or treat congenital (kon-JEN'ih-tal) heart defects.

Sometimes a special dye is put into the catheter to make the insides of your heart and blood vessels show up on x rays. The dye can show whether a material called plaque (plak) has narrowed or blocked any of your heart’s arteries (called coronary arteries).

Plaque is made up of fat, cholesterol, calcium, and other substances found in your blood. The buildup of plaque narrows the inside of the arteries and, in time, may restrict blood flow to your heart. When this happens, it’s called coronary artery disease (CAD).

Blockages in the arteries also can be seen using ultrasound during cardiac catheterization. Ultrasound uses sound waves to create detailed pictures of the heart’s blood vessels.

Doctors may take samples of blood and heart muscle during cardiac catheterization, as well as do minor heart surgery.

You’re awake during the procedure, and it causes little to no pain, although you may feel some soreness in the blood vessel where your doctor put the catheter. Cardiac catheterization rarely causes serious complications.