Cardiac Catheterization - Cardiac Catheterization Procedure and Study

The heart is one of the most difficult organs to deal with at a diagnostic level. While there are tests that can be conducted to check for ailments, there are some techniques that have to be invasive. One of these tests is called an angiography. This is a technique that is used to check for the flow of blood to the heart muscles and the basic tenet can be used to check for the flow of blood in the ventricles of the heart as well. This involves sending a tube up a major artery and injecting a dye into the heart. The next step is to rapidly take x-rays as the dye passes through the heart, which will then show the circulation in and to the heart. When the objective is to check for the flow of blood through the heart it is called a cardiac catheterization, and coronary catheterization is when the blood flow to the heart muscles is checked for and usually follows the former.

The procedure is performed either by making a puncture in the femoral artery in the groin or the radial artery in the wrist and a guide wire is inserted inside. A sheath of plastic is then wrapped around the guide wire and pushed up into the artery. The guide wire is then removed and the sheath is puncture to ensure proper arterial flow. The catheter is then inserted and moved up towards the heart with the help of yet another guide wire. Once the catheter is in place, the guide wire is removed when near the coronary artery. After this the dye is injected into the patient’s arteries. This injection of a contrasting dye is an iodine based dye that is opaque to x-rays. As the dye is injected, x-rays are quickly taken and a time lapse picture is then obtained for the flow of blood.

Once the procedure is complete, the catheter is removed and the artery is placed under pressure to ensure that the patient does not bleed to death. If the femoral artery was used for this procedure then the patient has to remain in a supine position for at least 6 hours to ensure that the clot is not dislodged. During this procedure, the patient may or may not be anesthetized but the site of the wound would be anesthetized with a local anesthetic. Biopsies and angioplasties can also be conducted while the catheter is in the heart.