Understanding the technology
About This Technology.
The Catheterization Laboratory (Cath Lab) is a procedure room where doctors guide a catheter, a thin flexible tube, through a blood vessel in the wrist or groin to the heart. Using X-ray imaging and contrast dye, the team examines the coronary arteries, places stents, and treats some valve problems and holes between heart chambers without open surgery.
What Is a Cath Lab?
A catheterization laboratory, or cath lab, is a sterile procedure room for examining and treating the heart through a catheter. A catheter is a thin, flexible tube. It is inserted through a blood vessel in the wrist or groin and guided to the heart. The room contains a procedure table, an X-ray unit that can rotate around your body, screens that show live images of your blood vessels, and monitors for heart rhythm, blood pressure, and oxygen levels.
Procedures Performed Here
- Coronary angiography. Contrast dye is injected into the coronary arteries, the vessels that supply blood to the heart muscle, so that narrowings or blockages show up on X-ray images.
- Percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). A narrowed artery is opened with a balloon, and a stent, a small metal mesh tube, is placed to keep it open.
- Right heart catheterization. Pressures are measured on the right side of the heart and in the lung arteries, for example when pulmonary hypertension is suspected.
- Structural procedures. Transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) and closure of holes in the heart wall, planned together with the valve and congenital heart teams.
During coronary procedures, your doctor may add imaging from inside the artery (IVUS or OCT), pressure measurement inside the artery (FFR or iFR), or a device for calcified plaque. Each of these has its own technology page.
The Cath Lab Team
Procedures are led by a cardiologist who specializes in interventional cardiology. The doctor is supported by nurses who prepare the equipment and monitor your condition, and by radiographers who operate the X-ray system. For valve or septal procedures, the team may include an echocardiography specialist, an anesthesiologist, and a cardiac surgeon.
Before, During, and After the Procedure
Before. Your doctor reviews your test results, including a blood test for kidney function. You are usually asked to fast for a few hours. Tell the team if you take blood thinners or diabetes medication, or if you have had an allergic reaction to contrast dye.
During. Coronary procedures are usually done while you are awake, with local anesthesia at the puncture site and sometimes a mild sedative. You may feel a brief warm sensation when contrast dye is injected.
After. The puncture site is pressed or closed with a special device to prevent bleeding, and you are monitored in a recovery area. If the puncture site swells or bleeds after you go home, or if you have chest pain, go to the emergency department right away.
Risks to Know About
Catheter procedures still carry risks. Bruising or bleeding at the puncture site happens most often. Contrast dye can cause an allergic reaction or reduce kidney function, especially if your kidneys are already affected. X-ray exposure is kept as low as possible. Serious complications such as heart attack, stroke, or a tear in a blood vessel are rare. Your doctor will explain the benefits and risks for your situation before you give your consent.
Clinical use
Uses and Benefits.
Whether this technology suits your condition is decided by a doctor after an evaluation.
- Examining narrowed or blocked coronary arteries with angiography
- Opening narrowed coronary arteries with a balloon and stent
- Treating blocked coronary arteries during a heart attack
- Measuring pressures in the heart chambers and lung arteries
- Replacing the aortic valve through a catheter (TAVI) in suitable patients
- Closing holes in the heart wall or a vessel that stayed open after birth, such as ASD and PDA
- Closing leaks around a replacement heart valve
Benefits for the Doctor's Assessment
No Open Surgical Incision
The catheter enters through a small puncture in a blood vessel, not an incision in the chest. Coronary procedures usually need only local anesthesia, so you stay awake.
Access Through the Wrist
When possible, your doctor uses the artery in your wrist. ESC guidelines recommend this route as the standard approach for angiography and PCI because bleeding at the puncture site is less common than with groin access.
Diagnosis and Treatment in One Procedure
If angiography finds a narrowing that needs treatment and you have agreed to it beforehand, your doctor can proceed directly to PCI without a new puncture.
Continuous Monitoring Throughout
Heart rhythm, blood pressure, and oxygen levels are monitored throughout the procedure, so the team can respond quickly to any change.
Brief Technical Information
- Facility type
- Cardiac catheterization procedure room
- Imaging source
- X-ray (fluoroscopy and angiography) with contrast dye
- Radiation
- Yes, X-ray
- Typical anesthesia
- Local anesthesia at the puncture site, sometimes with mild sedation
- Catheter access
- Blood vessel in the wrist (radial) or groin (femoral)
- Centers using it
- Coronary Intervention Procedures, Valvular Heart Disease Center, Congenital and Structural Heart Center, Advanced Cardiovascular Surgical Care
