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What is a Cardiac Catheterization?

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Cardiac catheterization (CC) is a common, nonsurgical procedure that can help your doctor diagnose a heart problem. In some cases, catheterization can be used to treat heart disease as well.

The procedure is done in a catheterization laboratory ("cath lab"). The physicians who perform the procedure, Drs. Thomas Ports and Dr. Andrew Michaels, are faculty cardiologists with special training in performing these procedures.


Why is CC done?

Chest discomfort and shortness of breath are a few signs or symptoms of heart disease that may concern your physician. You have probably been through a number of tests already such as a treadmill or stress test, an echocardiogram, or a nuclear scan.

Your doctor is recommending a cardiac catheterization to identify the heart problem or its severity more precisely. A cardiac catheterization can show:

 

• If the blood vessels in your heart have narrowed.

• If your heart is pumping normally and blood is flowing correctly

• If the valves in your heart are functioning normally.

• If you were born with any heart abnormalities.




Text provided by Andrew Michaels, M.D., Tony Chou, M.D., and Laura Kee, R.N., Ph.D.,
Division of Cardiology, University of California San Francisco
Medical Illustration/Animation by www.MeristemStudios.com
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