Cardiac catheterization
Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1]
Overview
Aortography
Coronary angiography
Left heart catheterization
Left ventriculography
Right heart catheterization
Right ventriculography
Indications for investigational use
This technique has several goals:
- confirm the presence of a suspected heart ailment
- quantify the severity of the disease and its effect on the heart
- seek out the cause of a symptom such as shortness of breath or signs of cardiac insufficiency
- make a patient assessment prior to heart surgery
Investigative techniques used with cardiac catheterization
A probe that is opaque to X-rays is inserted into the left or right chambers of the heart for the following reasons:
- to measure intracardiac and intravascular blood pressures
- to take tissue samples for biopsy
- to inject various agents for measuring blood flow in the heart; also to detect and quantify the presence of an intracardiac shunt
- to inject contrast agents in order to study the shape of the heart vessels and chambers and how they change as the heart beats
de:Herzkatheteruntersuchung
he:צנתור לב
nn:Hjartekateterisering