Heart cath

Hello, I haven't been on here in forever.  I remember how people in this club helped me get through my fear of getting my pacemaker and some follow up problems.  It's now been 2 and half years and I am having a heart cath to check for possible blockage on Monday.  I am a bit anxious about getting a cath with wires in my heart already and possibly a stent.  Can someone tell me how they did with this procedure?  It's my first heart procedure since pacemaker implant so I guess I've been pretty lucky up to now...thank you so much.


5 Comments

You'll be fine

by Gotrhythm - 2017-11-25 13:29:11

I had a cath about a year after pacemaker. There's not much to tell. I went to sleep, I woke up, had to lie still for a couple of hours and went home. I didn't even have a bruise in the groin where the catheter was inserted. As it turned out I didn't need a stent, but even if I had, the story from my point of view would be the same.

Remember, it's a first for you, but cardiologists do it all the time. Yes, even on people who have pacemakers.

You'll do fine.

Thanks

by sooz - 2017-11-25 13:47:12

Thank you Gotrhythm!  Glad you did well!

Heart cath - I enjoyed mine!

by LondonAndy - 2017-11-26 19:17:55

I know: I am weird!  When I had mine, (well an angiogram, which I think is the same thing?) they went in through the groin and I was awake all the time.  I didn't feel a thing through the whole procedure, and was simply fascinated by the images flashing images on the huge plasma screen beside me, and the movements of the "robot arm" around me to take the x-rays. 

At the end of the procedure, I asked "same time next week?"!  The only thing I would say to be cautious of is not to strain the area around wherever they go in for at least a few days, or risk the wound opening.

All the catheters ...

by donr - 2017-11-28 00:05:00

...stay OUT of the chambers of the heart where the PM leads are located.  They go in through the Groin, travel up the Femoral artery, up the abdominal Aorta into the Aorta over the top of the heart.  There are "Small" arteries rthat lead from  the top of the heart where the Aorta meets the output of the Left Ventricle They feed the walls of the heart & are called the coronary arteries.  The catheter goes down them to find constrictions.  One runs down the back of the heart (Called the "Widow maker" because it is larger than the rest & when it gets blocked, the results are not good.)  The other two (I think) are on the front of the heart & run top to bottom.  the PM leads are in the chambers, so there is no chance they will get tangled up with one another.  Should be a piece of cake!

Donr

Pacing Leads versus Cardiac Cath Access

by Hoosier Daddy - 2017-11-30 23:25:50

donr is correct.

Pacemaking leads are on the venous, or "low pressure", side of the system, while cardiac catheterization for angiography, angioplasty and stenting of the coronary arteries happens on the arterial, or "high pressure", side.

They couldn't get their catheters tangled up with our pacemaker / defibrillator leads even if they intentionally tried to!

An interesting note for those of us with cardiac resynchronization therapy devices (which involve pacing the left ventricle - part of the high pressure side) is that the leads are NOT placed within the cavity of the LV. So why are right heart leads INSIDE the RA and RV okay, but it's not okay to leave a long term indwelling catheter inside the LV? It's because leads left indwelling within the LV are much more likely to be associated with the development of blood clots within the chambers of the heart.

I trust all went well at your procedure; hope your news was good. 

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