CMC Heart Center houses a state-of-the-art cardiac catheterization lab featuring the latest in cardiac diagnostic imaging technology that allows our physicians to perform standard cardiac catheterization as well as the newest approach, radial artery catheterization. Cardiac catheterization is a minimally invasive procedure generally employed to diagnose and treat certain heart conditions. It involves threading a thin flexible tube through a blood vessel to the heart.
Your doctor can perform diagnostic tests and some procedures on your heart with the help of the catheter all at our cardiac catheterization lab. This procedure is typically performed through the groin or femoral artery. Because the femoral artery is larger and offers a direct route to the heart, it has become the dominant approach to cardiac catheterization. However, recently the use of radial artery for cardiac catheterization procedure has increased drastically. The radial artery approach is safer for patients as it is associated with less bleeding and fewer complications compared to the femoral approach.
Radial artery catheterization offers several benefits such as:
- Minimal bleeding
- Less risk of nerve injury
- Lower rate of complications
- Faster recovery
- More comfortable for patient as they can move around immediately after their procedure instead of staying in the bed for several hours