Catheter
Cardiac catheterization is one of the most famous operations in the world. It is used to diagnose and treat heart disease. It is done using a long tube that is very flexible and flexible. This tube is inserted into the arteries in the arm, thigh, or neck, Doctors perform some tests or procedures for the treatment of the heart, and often use the catheterization to diagnose diseases that affect the heart muscle or valves or coronary arteries that feed the heart. After the catheterization, the patient may suffer from mild pain or numbness at the site of the artery in which the tube is inserted, and it is rare for him to have complications that may pose a risk to his life.
Diagnostic procedures performed by catheterization
The purpose of the catheterization process is primarily to ensure the safety of the heart, heart muscle, coronary arteries and valves. In the case of diagnoses of ill-treatment, they are often used as an emergency in patients suffering from chest pain. The most prominent diagnostic procedures used The catheterization process is as follows:
- Coronary angiography: Using a catheter tube, doctors inject a dye through the coronary arteries of the heart. The doctors then perform an x-ray. The coronary arteries are shown through this image and any narrowing or obstruction is observed.
- Blood flow is examined and compressed in the heart chambers. The catheterization may be performed to check blood flow in the heart after surgery.
- Check the oxygen levels in the heart chambers by taking a blood sample using the catheterization process.
- Ensure the ability of the heart muscle to pump blood properly, especially the left and right ventricles.
- Detection of congenital malformations that affect the heart, and is used to detect any disorders in the heart chambers or valves.
- The catheterization process may be used to take a biopsy of the heart tissue, and send it to the laboratory for examination.
Therapeutic procedures performed using the catheterization process
After performing the catheterization and detecting a heart defect, doctors can resort to it as part of many therapeutic procedures for heart disease. These include:
- Coronary artery bypass surgery: After suffering from a heart attack called myocardial infarction and detecting coronary artery occlusion, the catheterization may be used to remove this blockage, known as coronary artery bypass surgery. The catheter tube is then supplied with a small balloon, Blocking plaque, which is usually a small block of cholesterol, calcium and some cell waste, may also contain platelets. The balloon is inflated, thus pushing the plaque to the inner wall of the injured artery, thereby improving the flow of blood through it. The heart and its tissues may be used, and a small network may be used to stabilize the inner wall of the injured artery and prevent its future narrowing.
- Cardiac and other congenital malformations: The apertures of the heart are congenital abnormalities in the muscle barrier separating the right and left sides of the heart, and may be the aperture between the ventricles or atria. In order to treat it, doctors may resort to the catheterization process to close the hole, to dispense with the open heart surgery, which may be accompanied by more serious complications to the child’s life. Other congenital malformations may be treated by using the catheterization process with a balloon or mesh.
- Treatment of arrhythmia: In many cases this irregularity is caused by the presence of abnormal cardiac cells that send nerve impulses to the heart muscles and order it to contract. This affects the normal cardiac pathway in the heart. To get rid of these tissues, the head of the catheter tube is equipped with laser beams or nitrogen oxide or a heat source to kill these cells, and re-arrhythmias.
- Cardiac valve repair and replacement: With the catheterization process, doctors can perform many procedures for the treatment of heart valves. They may be used to repair defects or leaks in the valves, or the so-called valve-ballooning procedure may be performed if there is a narrowing of the valve, the tube is inserted and delivered to the narrowing position, and then the balloon is inflated. You can also remove the defective valve and replace it with a new valve.
- The catheterization may be used to treat heart hypertrophy, especially hypertensive myocardial infarction, by injecting the enlarged muscle with alcohol to reduce its size.
Complications of the catheterization process
The patient should take complete information about the patient and ensure that he does not suffer from allergies against any substance to be used in this process. The most common complications that occur after the catheterization are localized, such as pain Or the swelling of the place of introduction of the catheter tube, and may suffer some bleeding in this place for a period after the completion of the process, and some patients may have difficulty urinating after the use of dye, and may appear to bruise the place of introduction of the tube, often disappear after days.
The complications described above are simple and do not pose a risk to the patient’s life, but catheterization may cause more serious but rare complications. Kidney patients and diabetes may be the most likely to develop renal failure following the use of dye, Or the blood vessel used in the operation may be torn to the abdomen, and a few patients may suffer from allergies to the materials used in the catheterization process.