Visitor, Vaccine & COVID-19 Updates
Weather Related Changes & Closures
  • MENU MENU
    MYCHART LOGIN PAY MY BILL FIND A DOCTOR FIND A LOCATION PATIENTS & VISITORS MEDICAL SERVICES COMMUNITY OUTREACH RESOURCES CAREERS
  • Patients & Visitors
  • Medical Services
  • Community Outreach
  • Resources
  • Careers
MYCHART LOGIN PAY MY BILL FIND A DOCTOR FIND A LOCATION PATIENTS & VISITORS MEDICAL SERVICES COMMUNITY OUTREACH RESOURCES CAREERS
  • Homepage
  • Medical Services
  • Heart & Vascular
  • Cardiology
  • Minimally Invasive Procedures
HEADER-SM-SEH-2016-0110

Minimally Invasive Procedures

Find a Location Find a Doctor
Heart & Vascular
  • Advanced Heart Failure Management Center
  • Arrhythmia Center
    • Diagnostic Testing
    • Treatments/Procedures
  • Cardiology
    • Heart Attack Care
    • Minimally Invasive Procedures
  • Cardio-Oncology
  • Cardiac Rehab
  • Clinical Research
  • Diagnostic Services
  • Heart Surgery
  • Patient Success Stories
  • Prevention & Wellness
    • AHA Training Center
    • CardioVascular Mobile Health Unit
    • Hands-only CPR
    • Healing Hearts Women's Support Group
    • Health Disparities and Cardiovascular Disease
    • Heart Healthy Lifestyle Tips
    • My Heart Rocks
    • Take Time For Your Heart
    • Women and Heart Disease
  • Tobacco Cessation
    • Fresh Start Tobacco Cessation
    • Nicotine Medication
    • Nicotine Replacement
    • Nicotine Therapy
    • Success Stories
    • Tobacco Cessation Resources
    • Youth E-cigarette and Vaping Epidemic
  • Valve Center
    • Aortic Valve Replacement
    • Mitral Valve Surgery
  • Your Hospital Stay
    • Care After Heart Surgery
    • Intensive Care for Heart Conditions
    • Nurses with Heart Care Expertise
    • Partners in Heart Care
    • Transitional Care Units

What Is Heart Catheterization?

Doctors at St. Elizabeth Heart & Vascular Institute use imaging exams and catheter-based procedures to diagnose and treat cardiovascular disease. In many instances, our specialists can assess and treat your condition during a single procedure.

To perform heart catheterization, your doctor makes a tiny incision in your upper thigh (groin) or wrist and inserts a catheter – a thin, flexible tube – into a large blood vessel that leads to your heart.

These procedures are performed in our Cardiac Catheterization Labs by cardiologists and interventional cardiologists, who specialize in catheter-based procedures.

Diagnosing Heart Disease

We use a variety of exams to diagnose heart disease, such as:

  • Angiogram – Views the inside of arteries in your heart, kidney and lungs, as well as peripheral arteries (not in the chest or abdomen, including arms and legs).
  • Nitrous oxide challenge – Measures pressure in your heart and pulmonary artery (to diagnose chronic obstructive pulmonary disease).
  • Intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) – Examines the inside of your arteries using sound waves.
  • Swan-Ganz catheterization – Monitors heart function and blood flow.

Diagnostic exams are outpatient procedures that don’t usually require an overnight stay. However, if you undergo an interventional procedure (treatment) in addition to a diagnostic exam, you may require a brief hospital stay.

Heart Disease Treatments

Whenever possible, your doctor will perform these interventional procedures – rather than surgery – to treat disease. Doctors use these techniques to reopen blocked arteries, restore normal heart rhythm or improve blood flow – including lifesaving heart attack care:

  • Angioplasty and stent placement – Opens narrowed or blocked arteries by inflating a tiny balloon (also called balloon angioplasty). In many instances, doctors place a stent – a small, metal tube – in the artery to keep it open. This procedure is used in coronary, peripheral and carotid arteries, as well as in the kidneys.
  • Atherectomy – Removes plaque buildup in blood vessels using a catheter with a sharp blade (metal burr).
  • Atrial septal defect and patent foramen ovale repairs – Closes openings in the heart that are there at birth (congenital abnormalities).
  • Coronary thrombectomy – Removes a blood clot from a blood vessel that supplies blood to the heart.
  • Pericardiocentesis – Removes fluid from around the heart.
  • Septal ablations – Destroys diseased heart tissue that causes hypertrophic cardiomyopathy by creating a small, controlled heart attack.
  • Temporary pacemaker implantation – Treats short-term heart problems, such as a slow heartbeat caused by a heart attack, heart surgery or a medicine overdose.
  • Temporary ventricular assist device (VAD) implantation – Stabilizes someone who’s critically ill until diagnosis and treatment decisions can be determined.
  • Transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) – Replaces the aortic valve in the heart. This offers a minimally invasive alternative to some people who can’t have open-heart surgery,
  • Valvuloplasty – Improves blood flow in the heart by opening the aortic, mitral or pulmonary valve in the heart with a tiny balloon (similar to angioplasty).

Our heart and vascular team will discuss the treatments that are right for you.

Contact Us

For a new patient cardiology appointment, call (859) 287-3045.

To find contact information for your current provider, search here. 

Glenna Maxwell

Just before her 40th birthday, Glenna learned she needed surgery to repair a heart defect she was born with. Learn how a minimally invasive procedure gave Glenna her life back.

READ GLENNA'S STORY

Valve Replacement Without Open-Heart Surgery

Vicki_Rankin_resized_for_web_1-13-2015

When Vicki learned she had a faulty heart valve, she thought she'd have to undergo open-heart surgery. But a new, minimally invasive option had her up and around just two weeks after the procedure.

READ VICKI'S STORY

About St. Elizabeth
  • About Us
  • Associate Log In
  • Associate Intranet
  • Careers
  • For Health Professionals
  • Foundation
  • St. Elizabeth Physicians
  • Learn More
How Can We Help?
  • Find a Location
  • Find a Provider
  • Frequently Called Numbers
  • Health Library
  • Pay My Bill
  • Pagar Su Factura
  • Site Map
Legal
  • Disclaimer/HIPAA
  • Patient Rights and Responsibilities
  • © 2019 St. Elizabeth Healthcare.
  • All rights reserved. St. Elizabeth Healthcare is a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation serving the Northern Kentucky/Greater Cincinnati region. Tax identification #610445850
Help Us Continue To Provide Quality Care
  • Donate
  • Human Resources
  • Physician Opportunities
  • Volunteer
Visit St. Elizabeth Physicians
Healthy
Headlines
  • Helping you live a better life.
  • View Health Tips
Social
About St. Elizabeth
About Us
Associate Log In
Associate Intranet
Careers
For Health Professionals
Foundation & Donations
Resources
CareGram
Find a Location
Find a Provider
Frequently Called Numbers
MyChart Login
Pay My Bill
Legal
Disclaimer/HIPAA
Patient Rights and Responsibilities
Human Resources
© 2021 St. Elizabeth Healthcare. All rights reserved. St. Elizabeth Healthcare is a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation serving the Northern Kentucky/Greater Cincinnati region. Tax identification #610445850