Cardiac catheterization
Cardiac catheterization is a procedure used to diagnose and treat heart conditions. This nonsurgical method can be used to determine if you have heart disease, check your heart muscle function or expand narrowed arteries to improve blood flow to the heart.
Cardiac catheterization (cath) in Richmond, Virginia
Our cardiac cath experts will take care of you.
At Chippenham Hospital, our top priorities are providing an accurate diagnosis and effective treatment. Our 24/7 heart cath lab can address cardiac conditions using advanced technology to reduce the recovery time and scarring associated with traditional procedures.
Related specialties
Learn more about our related specialties.
Our cardiac catheterization services
The heart specialists in our advanced cardiac cath lab provide superior care when you need it most.
Our team
Our cardiac catheterization lab team comprises board-certified interventional cardiologists, cardiac nurse practitioners, registered cath lab nurses and electrophysiology technologists. Everyone on this team works closely with other specialists throughout our hospital to provide you with exceptional heart care.
What is cardiac catheterization?
Cardiac catheterization is an advanced form of heart screening and imaging. It can be used to diagnose and treat heart conditions.
What are cardiac catheterization treatments?
In addition to diagnostics, heart catheters can be used as minimally invasive treatments in many cases. This means we can perform things like coronary and peripheral angioplasty — ways of opening narrowed arteries — with catheters. For these angioplasties, we can insert the stent and complete the procedure without using traditional open-heart surgery.
We can also perform pacemaker lead extraction using catheter-guided lasers. When you need this procedure, using a catheter allows us to perform it more safely and allows your surgeon to remove the lead with little risk to you quickly.
Cardiac procedures like these offer you the benefits of minimally invasive surgery, including enabling you to heal and recover more quickly.
We perform a variety of interventions to diagnose and treat conditions such as heart failure and arrhythmias. Some of the coronary and peripheral intervention procedures we offer include:
- 3D mapping
- Bare metal stents (mesh-like tube of thin wire inserted into cardiac arteries to treat angina and heart attacks)
- Biventricular leads
- Cardioversion
- Cutting balloon
- Drug-eluting stents
- Heart biopsy
- High-risk coronary stenting with advanced heart-pump therapies
- Intravascular ultrasound
- Nitric oxide study for pulmonary hypertension
- Pacemaker and defibrillator implantation
- Percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA) stent
- Peripheral catheterization
- Peripheral PTCA stent
- Pressure wire
- Renal PTCA stent
- Rotational atherectomy
- Tilt table testing
- Transesophageal echocardiogram (TEE)
Catheterization lab procedures
Here is what you can expect when you come in for your cath lab procedure.
Length of your stay for a cath lab procedure
On average, most of our procedures take about two hours for preparation, two hours for the actual procedure, and four hours for recovery. However, the duration of your time in the cath lab depends on the procedure your doctor ordered.
For example, you may need to stay overnight for coronary stent or balloon procedures. Similarly, ablation procedures last four to five hours and require an overnight stay.
You may not drive yourself home after a cath lab procedure, so please plan to have someone drive you home.
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