Picturing Your Heart

To obtain diagnostic X-rays of your heart or arteries—called a coronary angiogram—your doctor may recommend a common procedure called cardiac catheterization. From start to finish, it takes one to several hours. A long, thin tube called a catheter will travel through the artery in your neck, groin, or arm to your heart, guided by X-ray photography. Here’s what to expect:

• You’ll probably be told not to eat or drink anything for six to eight hours beforehand.
• A mild sedative will be given to help you relax, but you’ll need to stay awake to follow instructions; you may even be able to watch the procedure on a monitor the doctor uses to see the motion of your blood.
• A small area of your neck, groin, or arm will be shaved, cleaned, and anesthetized, and a tiny incision—the size of a pencil point—is made to insert the catheter.A dye injected through the catheter will show your heart and coronary arteries. These X-ray pictures will indicate how your heart is working and, if an artery is blocked or narrowed, the pictures will pinpoint the exact location.