This procedure is mostly done to evaluate the health condition of people who often experience chest pain. The chest pain is probably a symptom of coronary heart disease. In addition to chest pain, there are various reasons why doctors perform cardiac catheterization.

Here are some of the benefits of cardiac catheterization :

• Check the flow of blood and oxygen in different parts of your heart
• Assessing the strength of the heart muscle pumps blood throughout the body
• See how well the heart valve performs
• Treating heart attack
• Treating coronary heart disease
• Plan the right treatment. Particularly if you just recover from a heart attack but still feel chest pain, have a test result that shows that you have heart disease, or you have a heart attack that causes the heart to be severely damaged.
• Corrects a defective heart with minor surgery
• Take a heart muscle sample to see if you have a heart infection or tumor
• This procedure can be used to check congenital heart defects in children

What are the side effects of cardiac catheterization?

Recovery after catheterization is generally rapid and the risk of complications is low. Severe complications or side-effects from cardiac catheterization are rare. Some of the possible side effects that can occur from cardiac catheterization actions include :

• Bruises and swelling at the location where the catheter hose is inserted
• Bleeding
• Heart attack
• Stroke
• Trauma to the blood vessels or the heart passes through the catheter tube
• Irregular heart rhytm
• Allergic reactions and nausea due to the use of dye (contrast) to see the parts of the heart and blood vessels
• Infection
• Blood clot formed

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