Hello friends and family and welcome to another week of Topic Tuesday! Today, we are going to be keeping up with this month's theme of medical imaging! Last week, Samantha gave us a nice introduction to some of the imaging tests we have in surgery and Purab taught us about echocardiography.
This week, we want to take some time to learn about cardiac catheterizations!
When preparing for cardiac or aortic surgery, your doctor may recommend a catheterization to provide important information about the coronary anatomy of your heart. As a review, the coronary arteries supply blood to the surface of the heart. When they become blocked, they can cause symptoms of chest pain, difficulty breathing, or heart attacks.
It is recommended that anyone over the age of 40 undergoing cardiac surgery, have a catheterization done so that if there are any severe blockages in the heart already, the surgeon could help address them during their surgery before they start to cause symptoms. Usually a blockage of more than 70% (or 50% in the left main coronary artery) requires interventions.
Cardiac catheterization is considered to be a minimally invasive procedure because it requires entering your body to get images. The procedure is done under light sedation so that you do not feel any pain or anxiety during it.
A cardiologist will make a small incision in your wrist or groin and insert a thin, flexible tube (catheter) into one of your arteries. They will then watch it under a fluoroscopy screen and tunnel it up to your aorta before entering the left or right coronary arteries and injecting it with dye to get images of blood flow. With a catheterization, a cardiologist can:
✔️ Measure pressures inside your heart
✔️ Check for blockages in the coronary arteries
✔️ Place coronary stents if needed
For patients with kidney disease, it is important to discuss this with your doctor as the contrast dye may cause strain to your natural kidney filtration process. Sometimes doctors help reduce the risk of side effects by giving you a lot of fluid before and after your procedure.
Usually, you are able to go home the same day as your cardiac catheterization procedure. Your cardiologist and surgeon will both get copies of the images and be able to decide together if you need any "bypasses" done during surgery or stents placed.
And that's it for this week! We hope you learned something new. Be sure to join us next Monday as Sathya teaches us about Pulmonary Function Tests (PFTs). Until next time friends, stay happy. Stay healthy. And remember to always Think Aorta and #ACEYourHealthcareJourney :)
AA
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