Cardiac Catheterization
Your child's pediatric cardiologist may recommend a cardiac catheterization to get more detailed information about your child's heart, open a narrowed valve or blood vessel or close an abnormal connection in the heart or blood vessels. Cardiac catheterizations are performed in a dedicated room with specialized cameras, using small catheters (soft tubes) that are placed in your child's blood vessels and may be passed into your child's heart so the doctor can take measurements and pictures. Some heart problems that once required surgery can now be treated by cardiac catheterization and without surgery. All cardiac catheterizations are performed under anesthesia so the child is asleep throughout the test. The pediatric cardiologists, anesthesiologists, nurses and technicians, who will care for your child at the cardiac catheterization, are dedicated to caring for pediatric patients with heart disease.
You and your child will be required to come in for testing about one week before the procedure. You and your child will meet with the physician who will be performing this procedure on that day. The physician will explain the procedure in detail, answer all of your questions and obtain your permission for the procedure. Your child will be examined by the doctor and have multiple tests that day, which will include blood work, a chest radiograph (x-ray), an electrocardiogram and other tests needed before the procedure. You will be given instructions for the day of the procedure by a nurse. Please anticipate spending about four hours in our office on this day, so our staff may get all the information and appropriate testing necessary to give your child the best care possible.
On the day of the test, you will bring your child to Cohen Children’s Medical Center. You will want to make sure to follow the instructions you were given about when your child may last eat prior to the scheduled procedure. Upon arrival, you will take your child to the admitting office, and their staff will accompany your family to the Ambulatory Surgical Unit (ASU), where a nurse will briefly review some history and examine your child. You will meet the anesthesiologist who will be sedating your child for the procedure. If your child is anxious, the anesthesiologist may give him/her some medicine. Your child will be asleep throughout the entire procedure. Once he/she is awake, you will meet your child in the recovery room. Depending on the procedure your child is having, he/she may be required to stay in the hospital for a few hours or overnight. Additional testing may be required after the procedure at the request of your child's cardiologist, including a chest x-ray, an electrocardiogram, an echocardiogram and/or other studies.
Please arrive at the scheduled time, and anticipate spending all day (and possibly overnight) in the hospital to allow our staff to provide your child with optimal care before and after the procedure.
