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Cardiac catheterization
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Cardiac catheterization is an invasive procedure used to study the heart from within, meaning it goes inside the body. It can be right sided or left sided, depending on which side the catheter reaches, and the left sided one does two things at once: it lets doctors look, and it lets them treat.
Today the left sided procedure is done by percutaneous puncture of the radial artery in the wrist or the femoral artery in the groin, that is, by passing a needle through the skin. A catheter, a long thin tube, is threaded through that puncture and travels up inside the artery. A thread enters at the wrist and travels through the plumbing to where the problem starts.
Its main diagnostic use is to look at the coronary arteries, the ones that feed the heart, and see whether they are diseased. And along that same path doctors close congenital defects, meaning defects someone was born with, use radiofrequency to ablate arrhythmias, that is, heartbeats with a disturbed rhythm, and even replace valves.
In brief
Cardiac catheterization is an invasive procedure that can be right sided or left sided; the left sided procedure has both a diagnostic and a therapeutic role.
In left heart catheterization, access is now gained by percutaneous puncture of the radial artery or the femoral artery.
A thread enters at the wrist and travels through the plumbing to where the problem starts.
Its main diagnostic role is to assess coronary artery disease; the same route is used to close congenital defects, ablate arrhythmias with radiofrequency, and replace valves.
Sources (1)
- National Center for Biotechnology Information, StatPearls PublishingLeft Heart Catheterization, StatPearlsPublished
This page explains the topic in general terms; it does not tell anyone what treatment to follow.
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