Cardiac catheterization indications

Overview
Cardiac catheterization is performed to diagnose and assess the severity of aortic, coronary artery, pulmonary arterial, valvular, pericardial and myocardial disease.

Indications for Cardiac Catheterization

 * 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
 * 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