Heart patients who experience chest pain or an emergent event—such as a heart attack—undergo cardiac catheterization to determine the level of heart damage or disease. The minimally invasive cardiology procedure is also used to open blocked arteries limiting blood flow through the heart and preventing oxygenated blood from traveling properly through the body. Cardiac catheterizations are performed on more than 1 million Americans each year.
Baylor Scott & White Heart and Vascular Hospital proudly offers an innovative cardiac catheterization approach: radial artery catheterization. For many years, the groin's femoral artery was the preferred entry point for cardiac catheterization during minimally invasive cardiology procedures. However, in radial catheterization, the catheter is inserted through the radial artery in the wrist.