Cardiac Catheterization

What Is It?

A small catheter (a long, thin, flexible, hollow tube) is threaded through a vein or artery into the heart. Injected dye travels through the catheter, taking moving x-ray pictures on its way to the heart. These pictures will identify and localize narrowings in the arteries, measure the size of the heart along with the inside chambers, and evaluate the pumping ability of the heart, the ability of the valves to open and close, as well as record a measurement of the pressures within the heart chambers and arteries.

This procedure is performed in one of Stamford Hospital's two brand-new catheterization labs. A catheter is inserted into a blood vessel (usually in the groin) to sent to the heart. Dye is injected into the coronary arteries to detect blockages and moving pictures (angiograms) are recorded for analysis, diagnosis and to make treatment decisions.

How Do I Prepare?

Your doctor will give you instructions on how to prepare, which may include the following:

• Do not eat or drink after midnight the night before the procedure.
• Take only medications your doctor has told you to take. These can be taken with a sip of water the morning of surgery.
• Plan for your care and recovery after the procedure. Someone to drive you home after the procedure. Allow for time to rest for the first 24 hours.
• Stop smoking at least six to eight weeks prior to surgery as smoking delays wound healing. Smokers are also more likely to have breathing problems during surgery.

Please note: If you are having one of these procedures you will be contacted prior to the procedure by a member of the team who will give you detailed instructions on how to prepare.

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For more information or to make an appointment please call
1-877-233-WELL (9355).