You’ll be taken to a prep room, where you’ll change into a hospital gown.  You’ll be asked to empty your bladder and bowels. 

An IV line will then be started.  You may be given medication or fluid through this line.  The skin where the catheter will be inserted may be shaved. 

Then you’ll be taken to the Cath Lab.

Once in the Cath Lab, you’ll lie on a table beneath X-ray cameras.  Video monitors will be nearby.  Although sedated for comfort, you’ll remain awake during the procedure:

• A local Anaesthetic numbs skin and surrounding tissue.  Then an introducing sheath is inserted into an artery in the groin, arm or wrist.  The sheath remains in place throughout the entire procedure.

• In some cases, pressures within the heart chambers are measured.  This requires a second sheath in the same area.

• A catheter and guide wire are put into the sheath.  They are then threaded through the arteries to the heart.  This takes just seconds.  Blood vessels have no pain nerves, so you won’t feel their passing.  Once the catheter is in place, the guide wire is removed.

• During Cardiac Catheterisation, guide wires and catheters may be removed and replaced several times.  This is done to reach each of the coronary arteries.

Once the catheter is positioned in the coronary artery, X-ray dye is injected through the catheter.  The dye enters the Artery, allowing the blood flow channel (the lumen) to show up on X-rays. 

You may feel a warm flush as the dye enters your system.  Several images (Angiograms) are then taken.  The Angiograms show the amount of narrowing in the Artery and its exact location. 

These details help your doctor form a plan to open or bypass blockages.