Cardiac Catheterization

In a cardiac catheterization procedure, a small, hollow tube is inserted into a blood vessel. Once inserted, a number of procedures can be performed through the catheter, including measuring the pressure within the heart’s chambers, collecting biopsies, and angiogram.

A cardiac catheterization is performed with a very thin, hollow tube inserted into a blood vessel in the groin and guided to the heart. Once there, the catheter can be maneuvered to different locations to provide information about a variety of cardiac conditions such as artery blockage or congenital heart defects.

The Cath Lab is often the first stop for patients experiencing a possible cardiac emergency: chest pain, shortness of breath, dizziness or palpitations.

Diagnosing Your Heart’s Condition

This is the critical first step in your care. At Kentucky River Medical Center, physicians have advanced diagnostic capabilities to help determine the condition of your heart. Below are the tests that we use to help determine the health of your heart.

• Cardiac Stress Testing
  Cardiac stress testing allows us to monitor your heart while you walk on a treadmill. If you are unable to walk, we use intravenous medications to increase your heart rate similar to walking on a treadmill. This test helps physicians evaluate the fitness of your heart.
• Echocardiograms (Echo)
  By using sound waves to record your heart’s internal structure, physicians can identify damage to the cardiac muscles and measure the movement, size and shape of your heart as well as functionality of your cardiac valves.
• Electrocardiograms (EKG/ECG)
  Electrocardiograms (EKG/ECG) provide a record of your heart rhythms. This data is used to help diagnose abnormal heart rhythm and/or damage to heart muscle.
• Holter Monitor Stress Test
  A Holter Monitor is a recording unit that monitors and records your heartbeat while you are at home for 24 – 48 hours. This allows you to move normally while the device gathers valuable data from your heart.
• Vascular Studies
  Vascular studies are noninvasive tests that check the blood flow in your arteries and veins using high-frequency sound waves (doppler ultrasound, sometimes called cardiac or vascular ultrasound) to measure the amount of blood flow in your blood vessels and identify blockages.

These cardiac tests are available in Jackson at Kentucky River Medical Center.