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Heart Cathaderization (sp?)

Discussion in 'Health & Medicine Forum' started by Big Mark, Jul 1, 2005.

  1. Big Mark

    Big Mark Full Access Member

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    Serious procedure or routine? What's it do? How long are you "down" from it?
     
  2. plutosgirl

    plutosgirl It's a Liopleurodon!!!

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    It's a very common procedure. It's relatively quick and painless and the actual procedure only takes about 15 minutes. The prep and recovery time are much longer.
    Sometimes the bigger hospitals have the patient there early in the morning and you are put in a queue so to speak....the waiting is the hardest part.
    You can't eat anything the morning of, usually npo (nothing by mouth basically) 4-6 hours. Depends on the doctor, some more, some less.

    They will be taken to a cardiac cath suite and prepped with betadine over the femoral artery in the groin. They then give a little numbing shot over that site, and introduce a catheter into the vessel. The catheter is ran up into the heart, where they inject an iodinized medium that will show on xray. They watch it on the monitor as it fills in the vessels in the heart. They get their info, pull the catheter and the patient has to lie still for approx. 6 hours post procedure.

    There are rarely complications, but it does happen on occasion. Overall it's painless and safe.
     
    Last edited: Jul 1, 2005
  3. Big Mark

    Big Mark Full Access Member

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    OH! ok. so it's a test rather than a treatment?
     
  4. plutosgirl

    plutosgirl It's a Liopleurodon!!!

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    Not necessarily. They can also do angioplasty at that time or insert stents if needed. It's usually called angioplasty or stent placement but the method is the same. They use catheters and everything else is done the same way except it might take more time to place them or clean up the vessel.

    Have they had a heart cath already and they are doing treatment, ie... is it a known problem?
     
  5. Big Mark

    Big Mark Full Access Member

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    it's my grandmother, and because my mom and grandparents dont want me to worry, I get watered down versions of what's going on (hence my asking questions about it here). From what I'm being told, she had a regular checkup yesterday and they found a slightly irregular heartbeat, so they suggested the heart cath this morning. She went in @ 7 and is expected to be home this afternoon.


    They're telling me it's "nothing to worry about" but that's also what they told me when she had ovarian cancer, so I'm always hesitant to believe them.
     
  6. plutosgirl

    plutosgirl It's a Liopleurodon!!!

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    How old is she? She'll probably do fine. Let us know ;)
     
  7. Big Mark

    Big Mark Full Access Member

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    She's 77. I'll keep you posted.
     
  8. Ace13

    Ace13 Full Access Member

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    I'm lost...
    My mom is a RN in a Cardiac Cath Lab. It is a VERY routine procedure. I'm sure she'll be just fine...
     
  9. Puttingood

    Puttingood Sensitive One

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    the only complication (this was minor) that I ran into was the clotting of the artery. I had a tough time with it but I am guessing that she wouldn't be given all the blood thinning medicine I received. It was a trip watching it on tv though. I stayed in the IC for a few hours and then moved in the Cardiac care place and next morning I was gonna be released but a test result hadn't come back yet so I had to stay an extra day. Them people know what they doing and it is simple to them.
    Hope it all turns out well for all of y'all.
     

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