Cardiac Catheterization

Cardiac catheterization is a medical procedure used to check how well your heart is working. In simple terms, it involves a long, thin tube called a catheter, which is inserted into a blood vessel, usually femoral vein of groin, and carefully guided to heart.

Once the catheter is in place, doctors can use it to:

Take pictures: They may inject a special dye into the heart's chamber or main vessels to see if there is any abnormal connection, communications or narrowing of these vessels or birth abnormalities of heart’s chambers.
Measure pressures: The catheter can measure the pressure inside the heart chambers and blood vessels, which helps doctors understand how well your heart is pumpingand generating pressures
Treat problems: If there’s somenarrowing of main vessels or valves, doctors can sometimes use the catheter and balloon to dilate these vessels or valves, either by inflating a appropriate size balloon or placing a stent to keep the artery wide open.

Cardiac catheterization is often done to investigate congenital heart problems, congenital or acquire valve problems and to investigate and treat various heart conditions without needing to undergo open heart surgery.