Questions posted in the Heart Forum have been answered by doctors from The Cleveland Clinic Foundation.

Question Title: Heart Cath & Memory Loss

Forum: The Heart Forum
Topic: Catheter


I am interested in learning whether a 38 year old individual who underwent cardiac catherization in 1992, during which he developed some transient bradycardia, successfully treated with approximately 1 mg Atropine, had atypical chest pain, and also developed some transient hypotension, which responded to fluid boluses, could develop limited memory for things both prior and subsequent to the cardiac cath. This gentlemen also has hypertension, which is often out of control, smokes 3 packs of cigarettes a day and suffers from an ongoing addiction to Vicodin. Any information you can provide would be greatly appreciated.

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Dear Eva:

Sometimes relaxing medicines such as intravenous valium are given before/during a catheterization. These medicines can cause a person's recollection of events during and slightly before and after the catheterization to be shaky. I am talking about minutes or hours, not days, of memory loss.

I hope this is useful. Feel free to write back with further questions.

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