What is cardiac catheterization?
Cardiac catheterization is a procedure in which a heart specialist inserts a small tube (called a catheter) through a large blood vessel in the arm or leg, and then passes the tube into the heart. Once inside the heart, doctors use the catheter to evaluate how the heart is working by measuring pressure and oxygen levels within the heart's chambers. Through the catheter, doctors inject a special dye that provides an X-ray image of…
What is an echocardiogram?
Echocardiography (also called cardiac echo or just echo) uses high-frequency sound waves to create a real-time video of your beating heart. The current American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association practice guidelines refer to the technique as the single most useful diagnostic test in the evaluation of patients with heart failure. …
