What is Heart Catheterization?

Heart Catheterization-01

Heart catheterization, also known as cardiac catheterization, is a medical procedure used to diagnose and treat certain heart conditions. It involves inserting a thin, flexible tube called a catheter into a blood vessel, usually in the groin or arm, and guiding it to the heart. This allows doctors to perform diagnostic tests such as angiography to visualize the heart's blood vessels, measure pressures within the heart, and evaluate heart function. Additionally, therapeutic interventions like angioplasty, stent placement, or valve repair can be performed during the procedure. It is a minimally invasive method providing critical information and treatment options for various cardiac issues.

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Frequently Asked Questions:

Your cardiologist will instruct you as to when you/your child should cease eating and drinking prior to the catheterization. Most patients older than 2 years will be instructed that they can eat and drink up to midnight the day before with nothing by mouth after that time. Most infants and toddlers younger than 2 years will be able to have something clear to drink but no food at 4:00 o’clock in the morning of the procedure with nothing by mouth after that.

For any infants having a procedure, your cardiologist will instruct you as to when they can eat.

You will be instructed by your cardiologist as to what time to report to the facility. For those patients who are scheduled through Crouse Hospital with expectation for an overnight stay as outpatients, arrival time to the 2nd Floor area is 6:00 AM. For those patients who are scheduled to come through the 7th floor Surgery Center in the Physicians’ Office Building and who will be going home the afternoon of the catheterization, arrival time to the 7th floor is 6:45 AM.

Please do not hesitate to contact our office and speak to the nursing staff if you have concerns that your child may be ill. Electively scheduled catheterizations are not performed on patients with fever and/or obvious illness and will need to be rescheduled.

Your cardiologist will instruct you on which medications may be taken on the morning of the procedure and which medications may need to be held either that day or for a few days in advance.

If you or your child’s procedure is scheduled through Crouse Hospital, please use Valet Parking in front of the hospital entrance. Upon arrival there, proceed directly to the 2nd floor Memorial Unit RCC area.

If you or your child’s procedure is scheduled through the Surgery Center in the Physicians Building please use Valet Parking at the front entrance of Crouse Hospital and then proceed straight across the street and walkway to the Physicians Building (725 Irving Avenue) and take the elevator in the Lobby to the 7th Floor.

Catheterization procedures scheduled through Crouse Hospital usually require an overnight stay in the 2nd floor RCC area where a parent can stay with children younger than 18 years. Discharge may, in some circumstances, occur later that same day but more often will occur early the next morning before 9:00 AM. Patients having catheterization scheduled through the Surgery Center are typically discharged in the mid afternoon the same day.

Lodging is available at the nearby Ronald McDonald House for family members coming in the night before or who may need it the night after catheterization. Arrangements for lodging at The House can be made in advance by calling our office 877-404-5868.