Cardiac Catherization

  Dear Doctor,
  My mother went to see a cardiologist because she had extremely high blood pressure.
  The blood pressure was 200 over 110.  He put her on Diovan and Norvanc and she
  had been on Tonormin which he kept her on.  Her pressure reading is now
  170 over 92.  He also gave her a stress test and echo cardiogram.  He
  said she might have a blockage.  Now he wants to perform a Cardiac
  Catherization.  What exatcly is this proceedure ?
  What is the percentages of something going wrong and
  what could go wrong?  If you have to lie still for 6 hours how do you
  urinate?  What determines via the echocardiogram that there could be a
  possible blockage?  Being very high strung is there a possibity they
  could anestitize her?  
  Thank you
  Lori

Dear Lori:
A cardiac catheterization is done under local anesthesia, not general anesthesia. Intravenous sedation is routinely used. A catheter is often placed in the bladder to allow urination while lying flat.
An echocardiogram could show that part of the heart is not contracting well, and thus prompt a cardiac catheterization. There is about a 1/500 chance of death, heart attack or stroke from the procedure itself.
I hope you find this information useful.  Information provided in the heart forum is for general purposes only.  Only your physician can provide specific diagnoses and therapies. Please feel free to write back with additional questions.
If you would like to make an appointment at the Cleveland Clinic Heart Center, please call 1-800-CCF-CARE or inquire online by using the Heart Center website at www.ccf.org/heartcenter.   The Heart Center website contains a directory of the cardiology staff that can be used to select the physician best suited to address your cardiac problem.