Cardiac catheterization
Cardiac catheterization (heart cath) is the insertion of a catheter into a chamber or vessel of the heart. This is done both for diagnostic and interventional purposes. Subsets of this technique are mainly coronary catheterization, involving the catheterization of the coronary arteries, and catheterization of cardiac chambers and valves of the Cardiac System.
Coronary catheterization
Procedure
"Cardiac catheterization" is a general term for a group of procedures that are performed using this method, such as coronary angiography and left ventricle angiography. Once the catheter is in place, it can be used to perform a number of procedures including angioplasty, PCI (percutaneous coronary intervention) angiography, balloon septostomy, Electrophysiology study or catheter ablation.
Indications for diagnostic use
This technique has several goals:
- confirm the presence of a suspected heart ailment
- quantify the severity of the disease and its effect on the heart
- seek out the cause of a symptom such as shortness of breath or signs of cardiac insufficiency
- make a patient assessment prior to heart surgery
Right heart catheterization, along with pulmonary function testing and other testing should be done to confirm pulmonary hypertension prior to having vasoactive pharmacologic treatments approved and initiated.[1]
Investigative techniques used with coronary catheterization
- to measure intracardiac and intravascular blood pressures
- to take tissue samples for biopsy
- to inject various agents for measuring blood flow in the heart; also to detect and quantify the presence of an intracardiac shunt
- to inject contrast agents in order to study the shape of the heart vessels and chambers and how they change as the heart beats
Catheterization of chambers and valves
Catheterization of cardiac chambers and valves may be performed at the same time as a coronary catheterization, and may also involve nearby major vessels, such as the aorta. It is the main method of cardiac ventriculography (another being radionuclide ventriculography, whose use has largely been replaced by echocardiography).
It has the ability to measure the pressure gradient across a valve and derive valve area from it. Thereby, it can assist in diagnosis of, for example, aortic stenosis.[2]
This is also the procedure used in balloon septostomy, which is the widening of a foramen ovale, patent foramen ovale (PFO), or atrial septal defect (ASD) using a balloon catheter.
History
The history of cardiac catheterization dates back to Claude Bernard (1813-1878), who used it on animal models. Clinical application of cardiac catheterization begins with Werner Forssmann in the 1930s, who inserted a catheter into the vein of his own forearm, guided it fluoroscopically into his right atrium, and took an X-ray picture of it. Forssmann won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for this achievement, though hospital administrators removed him from his position owing to his unorthodox methods. During World War II, André Frédéric Cournand, a professor at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons who also shared the Nobel Prize, and his colleagues developed techniques for left and right heart catheterization.
References
- ↑ American College of Chest Physicians; American Thoracic Society (September 2013), "Five Things Physicians and Patients Should Question", Choosing Wisely: an initiative of the ABIM Foundation (American College of Chest Physicians and American Thoracic Society), retrieved 6 January 2013
- ↑ Elizabeth D Agabegi; Agabegi, Steven S. (2008). Step-Up to Medicine (Step-Up Series). Hagerstwon, MD: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. ISBN 0-7817-7153-6.
External links
- MedlinePlus Medical Encyclopedia: Cardiac catheterization
- eMedicine: Cardiac Catheterization (Left Heart)
- The Parachute Implant: a cardiac catheterization device for treating heart disease
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