Investigations - Cardiac Catheterisation

This is an x-ray test to look at the coronary arteries (that supply blood to your heart), the heart pump and valves. The test is usually performed to see if there are any narrowings in the arteries supplying blood to the heart. Sometimes, the test is performed to see how well the heart valves are working or to try and find a cause for heart failure.

For this test, you will be admitted to hospital for a day (or overnight for if an angioplasty or stent is to be performed). The test involves putting a small tube into an artery either in the leg or the arm. This is done under a local anaesthetic. A catheter (a thin, hollow tube) is then passed to your heart to either measure the pressure or to inject a small amount of dye that shows up on the x-ray and this picture is recorded.

This part of the test takes 10-20 minutes. After this, the tube is removed from the artery. You will be told the results on the same day.

After the procedure, you will have to lie flat in bed for a few hours so that the artery can begin to heal. You will be able to go home the same day (following an angiogram) or the next day (following an angioplasty). You should ask someone to drive you home and should try and avoid lifting heavy weights for about a week so that the artery has plenty of time to fully heal.