In the past, hospitals used cardiac catheterization labs for a very limited number of procedures, primarily studies of blood flow and pressure in the heart, visualization of the coronary arteries and balloon angioplasty. Today, the modern cardiac "cath" lab is home to a wide variety of diagnostic and treatment techniques that allow the doctor to tailor care for the very specific needs of individual patients. Saint Francis doctors have contributed to this rapid development in interventional cardiology. Patients at the Saint Francis Heart Center benefit from the complete range of state-of-the-art care. The procedures done in the cath lab are sometimes referred to as catheter-based modalities, because they all employ the basic techniques of cardiac catheterization.
Click on the text below to learn more about specific diagnostic and treatment procedures.
Cardiac Catheterization
Hemodynamics
Coronary Arteriography
Intracoronary Ultrasound
Angioscopy
Balloon Angioplasty
Rotational Atherectomy
Transluminal Extraction Angioplasty
Coronary Stents
Excimer-laser Angioplasty
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Cardiac Catheterization
Cardiac catheterization is when a narrow tube, called a catheter, is inserted into an artery or vein of the leg or arm and passed through the blood vessel to the heart or the heart's circulation. Passage of the catheter is monitored by a special x-ray camera called a fluoroscope. The fluoroscope can also be used to record the flow of a radiopaque dye through the heart, coronary vessels and large vessels that supply blood to the heart and circulation.
Hemodynamics
Hemodynamics is the study of blood flow, pressure and cardiac output. During this evaluation, the catheter is positioned in a heart chamber or one of the "great" vessels of the body to record pressure changes during the cardiac cycle, resistance to flow through the valves or blood vessels and the amount of blood that is pumped out of the left ventricle during each cardiac cycle.
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