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Home Our Care Heart and Vascular Care Cardiac Catheterization Services Cardiac Catheterization Procedures
Cardiac Catheterization Procedures

Cardiac catheterization is an x-ray procedure used to evaluate the condition of the heart and coronary arteries to help detect heart disease at an early stage. Cardiac catheterization is not a surgical procedure. A small plastic tube, or catheter, is inserted into an artery or vein in the leg and guided through blood vessels to the heart. X-ray pictures allow the doctor to watch the catheter as it is being guided and there is usually little or no discomfort to the patient. Heart pressures are then measured and x-ray dye is used to take pictures of the heart.

Our skilled physicians use the most advanced technology to treat patients, allowing physicians to see the vessels and anatomy of the heart, as well as the finest vessels all the way to the fingertips. As a result, physicians see clearly inside a patient while guiding stents, catheters and other medical devices to areas of the body needing treatment.

Procedures include: 

Atrial septal defect/patent foramen ovale closure is a catheter procedure used to position a device that closes a hole in the heart wall. The device is moved through a catheter to the location of the heart wall defect where it remains permanently to stop the abnormal flow of blood between the two atrial chambers of the heart.

Balloon aortic and mitral vavuloplasty is the insertion of a balloon catheter into the heart and across the narrowed valve. When in place, the balloon is expanded to open the valve.

Coronary angioplasty, also known as percutaneous coronary intervention, is used to open clogged heart arteries to improve some of the symptoms associated with blocked arteries, such as chest pain and shortness of breath. It is also used to treat heart attack patients by quickly opening a blocked artery to help minimize heart damage. The procedure involves temporarily inserting and expanding a tiny balloon at the site of the blockage to help widen an artery.

Coronary atherectomy is done in conjunction with angioplasty. In this procedure the blocked area inside the artery is "shaved" away by a tiny device on the end of a catheter.

Coronary stent placement involves a small metal coil inserted into the artery to prevent the opening from narrowing again.

Intravascular ultrasound involves high-frequency sound waves to create images of the heart and arteries. The tiny ultrasound camera is attached to the tip of a flexible catheter and provides detailed images of both heart structure and function.

Renal artery stenting relieves the narrowing of the artery and restores blood flow to the leg.

Cardiac Catheterization Procedures
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