Heart Catheterization

Candidates for Heart Catheterization

Two types of patients are the primary candidates for heart catheterization, depending on symptoms and timing:

• Elective -- Patients with coronary artery disease are regularly referred to the cardiac catheterization laboratory for coronary angiograms. Catheterization is also useful for assessing patients with leaky or blocked heart valves, or those with congenital heart diseases or abnormalities. For these patients, heart catheterization will show the problem areas in their hearts and determine what intervention is needed, short term and long term.
• Emergency -- At Mayo Clinic, the first-line diagnostic tool for a confirmed heart attack is heart catheterization to determine the location of the blockage. After rapid transfer from the emergency department, interventional cardiologists locate the obstruction and in most cases, open the artery using balloon angioplasty, followed by a stent. For emergency patients, speed and accuracy are key. Mayo Clinic has one of the fastest "door to balloon" times in the nation, averaging around 60 minutes from the time a patient arrives in the emergency department to opening the blocked artery in the catheterization laboratory.

Children are sometimes candidates for heart catheterization, typically when congenital heart defects need interventional treatment. Other tests, such as MRIs and echocardiograms, are used to determine the nature and type of defect. Catheterization can be used for additional diagnostic purposes, and often is used to repair the defect without surgery. Read more about interventional catheterization for children.