Heart Catheterization

During cardiac catheterization, a doctor inserts a long, thin, flexible tube into a blood vessel in the patient’s arm or leg. Once inserted, the catheter is guided by the physician toward the heart. This procedure allows the physician to study how well the heart pumps blood and allows an examination of the coronary arteries, which are the blood vessels that supply blood to the heart muscle and the heart valves. This procedure also often is referred to as a coronary angiography, angiogram, cardiac cath and heart cath.