Welcome to a hub where you can watch and learn anything about Cath Lab procedures.
All in Medical
How narrowed arteries in the lungs are widened with a balloon, sometimes with a stent, in CTEPH or congenital heart disease. Original diagrams; steps, kit, risks and recovery.
How a balloon catheter makes or enlarges an opening between the upper heart chambers, mainly in newborns with some congenital heart conditions. Original diagrams; steps and risks.
How small metal coils are placed through a catheter to block an unwanted vessel or connection. Original diagrams; steps, kit, risks and recovery.
How a narrowed vein or artery graft from earlier bypass surgery is opened with a balloon and stent. Original diagrams; steps, kit, risks and recovery.
How a small filter or similar device placed beyond a narrowing catches debris released during treatment. Original diagrams; steps, kit, risks and recovery.
How a balloon with tiny blades or scoring wires makes controlled cuts in tough plaque so the artery opens evenly. Original diagrams; steps, kit, risks and recovery.
How a spinning burr or crown sands down hard, calcified plaque so a heart artery can be ballooned and stented. Original diagrams; steps, kit, risks and recovery.
How blood samples from the artery and the heart's own vein (coronary sinus) are compared in research studies of how the heart uses energy. Original diagrams; steps and risks.
How oxygen samples from each heart chamber show blood flowing between the two sides. Original diagrams; steps, kit, risks and recovery.
How the grafts from earlier bypass surgery are found and filled with contrast dye to check they are open. Original diagrams; steps, kit, risks and recovery.
How contrast dye injected through a catheter in the lung artery shows clots or narrowings. Original diagrams; steps, kit, risks and recovery.
How pressures, oxygen levels and cardiac output are measured on both sides of the heart through thin catheters from a vein and an artery. Original diagrams; steps, kit, risks and recovery.
Every procedure done in or alongside a cardiac cath lab, in 7 categories, each with a one-line plain-English description and links to full Cath Lab 101 guides where they exist.
How UNICORN makes a hole at the base of an old valve leaflet and expands the new TAVI valve through it, so the leaflet is pushed away from a coronary artery. Original diagrams; honest about evidence.
How LLAMACORN uses an electrified wire and then a large balloon to split an old aortic valve leaflet before valve-in-valve TAVI, and how it compares with BASILICA. Original diagrams; honest about evidence.
How cells taken from a patient's own bone marrow are delivered into a coronary artery during research studies, using a balloon "stop-flow" technique. Original diagrams; explains risks and the research context.
How LAMPOON splits the front (anterior) mitral leaflet with an electrified wire before a transcatheter mitral valve, so the leaflet cannot block blood leaving the heart. Illustrations plus original diagrams.
How BASILICA splits an old aortic valve leaflet with an electrified wire before TAVI, so the leaflet cannot block a coronary artery. Procedure illustrations plus original diagrams; covers risks and kit.
How a leadless (capsule) pacemaker can be removed from the right ventricle with a snare passed through a large sheath in the groin vein. Original diagrams; covers who needs it, risks, recovery and kit.
How a Blalock-Taussig (BT) shunt from childhood heart surgery can be closed with a plug by catheter, and a narrowed pulmonary artery stented. Original diagrams; covers risks, recovery and kit.
