getting a cardio cath-input? worried

TennRN2004 · Apr 7, 2006

Hi, i'm asking for your input and advice, i just found out i'm getting a cath, have apparent slight blockage of the LAD. i would appreciate your advice, experience and any info please. i'm a little scared. i'm an LPN, so not a whole lot of experience here with this.

Not sure exactly what you're looking for...Typically when they do the cath they will look at all the coronary arteries, right and left sided heart function. A couple of things that can be done if there is a blockage. If your blockage is "slight", you can have a balloon blown up in the artery and hopefully restore lost flow, usually less than 50% and you don't have any lost flow.

Hard to say without knowing exactly what % your blockage is. If the blockage is too big to fix with just a balloon, the cardiologist can thread a stent over the wire and balloon and inflate the balloon and leave the stent in place to restore blood flow. If during the arteriogram, it's found you have multi vessle artery disease, with several major blockages, or even one major blockage not stentable, then a referral to a cardiac surgeon will be obtained for a bypass.

With the arteriogram, if you remain stable (HR,BP, no bleeding issues from anti-coagulants) many hospitals send you to a cardiac short stay unit until your sheath they used to thread the wire into the heart with can be removed, then you can go home sometimes the same day. If there's any question about you have any heart damage, heart attack, or questionable heart function, they will either send you to a telemetry floor, or again depending on your diagnosis, heart function, and stability to a ICU for the night.

If you get a balloon or stent procedure, you can expect to be on an anticoagulant like Plavix for usually 6 months, keep regular follow up appointments with your cardiologist to watch your bp,hr,lab studies.

As for the procedure itself, you'll be in a cardiac cath suite, with the cardiologist and his team of assistants, they'll give you medications to relax you and for pain, to keep you comfortable but awake and talking to them. The cardiologist will put a sheath in your femoral artery and thread a wire up to look at the heart. He'll have a big monitor he looks at that shows you heart arteries and the blood going through them so he/she can see any blocked areas, then take pictures of these arteries. They will also evaluate how well your heart is pumping.

Hope that helps some, not sure what else you wanted to know. My father in law had a cath with a stent last summer and he was in the hospital total of a day and a half, doing great now. It's a common procedure, but it does have risks like anything else we do. Just make sure to ask your cardiologist questions about what to expect before, during, and after, since they will know you and your history.

charebec65 · Apr 7, 2006

I've not had a cath but have had an EP study which was done in the same manner (via femoral artery). It was actually quite interesting as I was awake the whole time. The worst thing was having to lie still for 8 hours. I was counting down the minutes until I could get to the girls room.....

Editorial Team / Admin · Apr 7, 2006

TennRN pretty well covered all the bases . . . I hope your procedure goes smoothly, and that CAD worries are unfounded. Take care of yourself; ask questions and questions and more questions. Let us know how you do.