Cardiac catheterization (heart cath) is the insertion of a catheter into a chamber or vessel of the heart. Catheter disassembled In medicine, a catheter is a tube that a health professional may insert into part of the body. ... In the heart, a ventricle is a chamber which collects blood from an atrium (another heart chamber) and pumps it out of the heart. ... The arterial system The blood vessels are part of the circulatory system and function to transport blood throughout the body. ... The heart and lungs (from an older edition of Grays Anatomy) The heart (Latin cor) is a hollow, muscular organ that pumps blood through the blood vessels by repeated, rhythmic contractions. ...

A small incision is made in a vessel in the groin, wrist or neck area (the femoral vessels or the carotid/jugular vessels), then a guidewire is inserted into the incision and threaded through the vessel into the area of the heart that requires treatment, visualized by fluoroscopy or echocardiogram, and a catheter is then threaded over the guidewire. When the necessary procedures are complete, the catheter is removed followed by the guidewire. Occasionally the incision requires a suture or two, but more often just requires a few minutes of pressure with a clean dressing to stop bleeding. Cutting is the separation of a physical object, or a portion of a physical object, into two portions, through the application of an acutely directed force. ... The groin is the long narrow depression, usually of the human body, that separates the trunk from the legs. ... In human anatomy, the wrist is the flexible and narrower connection between the forearm and the hand. ... Femoral can refer to: Femoral artery Femoral vein Femur Femoral triangle Femoral nerve This is a disambiguation page—a list of articles associated with the same title. ... The carotid artery is a major artery of the head and neck that supplies blood to the head and neck. ... External and internal jugular veins bring deoxygenated blood from head region back to heart. ... A modern fluoroscope. ... The echocardiogram is an ultrasound of the heart. ... A procedure is a series of activities, tasks, steps, decisions, calculations and other processes, that when undertaken in the sequence laid down produces the described result, product or outcome. ... A set of stitches in a persons left arm. ... Dressing can be a noun or a verb. ... Bleeding is the loss of blood from the body. ...

A cardiac catheterization is a general term for a group of procedures that are performed using this method. Once the catheter is in place, it can be used to perform a number of procedures including angioplasty, angiography, and balloon septostomy. Angioplasty is the mechanical, hydraulic dilation of an artery lumen which has been narrowed, sometimes totally obstructed, generally due to atheroma (the lesion of atherosclerosis). ... Angiography or arteriography is a medical imaging technique in which an X-ray picture is taken to visualize the inner opening of blood filled structures, including arteries, veins and the heart chambers. ... Balloon septostomy is the widening of a foramen ovale, patent foramen ovale (PFO), or atrial septal defect (ASD) via cardiac catheterization (heart cath) using a balloon catheter. ...