The American Heart Association describes cardiac catheterization as a procedure in physicians insert a long hollow thin tube into a blood vessel, and threads it through the blood vessels to the heart or the arteries connected to the heart. After it is in position in or near the heart, physicians can perform several different procedures, some of which are diagnostic and some of which are therapeutic.
Angiography
Angiography involves cardiac catheterization. The Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory at Hackensack University, a center that performs several types of cardiac catheterization procedures, describes angiography in detail. Once the catheter is in place in the hearts arteries, physicians inject a special dye called contrast dye that X-rays can visualize into arteries through the catheter. Progressive images of the contrast dye and thus the blood flow through the cardiac arteries become visible on a monitor. This procedure allows the doctor to measure the rate of blood flow and detect any possible blockages, narrowing of the blood vessels, problems with the valves of the heart or abnormalities in the way the heart pumps blood.
Angioplasty
Angioplasty removes a blockage of an artery in the heart. One type of angioplasty, called a balloon angioplasty, includes the insertion of a catheter with a small balloon at the tip, which a physician guides towards the blocked vessel in or near the heart. Once the blockage is reached, the physician inflates the small balloon in the catheter to expand the vessel wall and compress the area of plaque buildup on the artery. When the artery has become sufficiently stretched to allow blood flow, the physician deflates the balloon and withdraws the catheter.
The Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory describes another type of angioplasty, called laser angioplasty. A laser on the tip of the catheter vaporizes the blockage, allowing the blood to flow through the blood vessel again.
Atherectomy
The Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory describes an atherectomy as a cardiac catheterization procedure in which the blockage is cut out and removed by a specialized cutting tool at the end of the catheter. Soft plaque can be shaved from the artery wall, and stored in the tip for removal from the body; a circular moving rotary blade cuts up hard plaque into tiny harmless pieces; or a suctioning device removes a blood clot.
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