Cardiac Catheterisation

Cardiac catheterization (cardiac cath or heart cath) is a procedure to examine how well your heart is working. A thin, hollow tube called a catheter is inserted into a large blood vessel that leads to your heart. A cardiac cath provides information on how well your heart works, identifies problems and allows for procedures to open blocked arteries. Cardiac cath is usually very safe. A small number of people have minor problems. Some develop bruises where the catheter had been inserted (puncture site). The contrast dye that makes the arteries show up on X-rays causes some people to feel sick to their stomachs, get itchy or develop hives.

A doctor with special training performs the procedure with a team of nurses and technicians. The procedure is done in a hospital cardiac catheterization (cath) lab. Most people can return to their normal activities the day after the procedure depending on whether any additional interventions were done during the cardiac cath.