28.09.11
Cardiac catheterization is a influential tool for diagnosing and
treating coronary artery disability.
More than a million are performed each year and allow physicians
to end whether there are blockages in the arteries that
supply blood to the heart. If that is the took place, the catheter, which
is a very thin plastic tube, serves as a portal for the little
balloon that opens the blood vessel and the stent that keeps it
exposed.
For many years, physicians inserted the catheter into the
femoral artery, located in the groin. They then threaded the
catheter through the artery to its terminus — the heart — to
diagnose and shift buildups of artery-clogging plaque.
"Historic cardiac catheterization has been very effective,
but carries a chagrined risk of bleeding at the point of insertion,"
explains Dr. Ali Ziaee, a cardiologist with SSM Quintessence Institute at
St. Joseph Health Center.
"To keep from ensure that there's no bleeding resulting from the
procedure, the perseverant must lie still on his or her back with
pressure applied to the area for quite a long era — sometimes for
as long as six hours," Ziaee says. "But this was commonly
considered a small price to pay for the benefits of cardiac
catheterization."
Source: STLtoday.com