Are Cardiac Catheterizations ever dangerous?
156696
A procedure that introduces a catheter into the arteries of your heart carries a risk of death.\nIt is rare but it does happen. I had a patient go into cardiac arrest during a cardiac cath. He was resusitated.\nPrior to any procedure the surgeon will run through any risks the procedure might carry.
356997
Generally no because during intubation assuming you are having a general anaesthetic, intubation may be difficult and increase levels of sputum in the lungs puts you more at risk.\n\nSurgery is risky anyway why increase the level of risk when you don't have to.
118584
Danger to medical personell and patients.
585571
YEs! Very bad indeed. It can cause ellevated bllod pressure and high risk of blood clot.
187555
No. Not at all.\n\nSnopes.com have debunked this one pretty thoroughly. Here is an extract (click on the link below to read the whole thing)...\n\n\nDr. Richard O. Cummins, Seattle's director of emergency cardiac care, explains that cough CPR raises the pressure in the chest just enough to maintain some circulation of oxygen-containing blood and help enough get to the brain to maintain consciousness for a prolonged period. But cough CPR should be used only by a person about to lose consciousness, an indication of cardiac arrest, he cautions. It can be dangerous for someone having a heart attack that does not result in cardiac arrest. Such a person should call for help and then sit quietly until help arrives, he says.\n\nIn other words, the procedure might be the right thing to attempt or it might be the very thing that would kill the afflicted depending on which sort of cardiac crisis is being experienced. Without a doctor there to judge the situation and, if cough CPR is indicated, to supervise the rhythmic coughing, the procedure is just far too risky for a layman to attempt.\n\nForget about coughing — key to surviving a heart attack is obtaining proper medical assistance within a very limited window of opportunity. Once an acute myocardial infarction (AMI) has been diagnosed, speedy injection of thrombolytic agents to dissolve clots is of the utmost importance — the more quickly those drugs are delivered, the better the chances of survival are. It's a race against the clock.\n\nMost patients who present with minor chest pains usually look healthy and show no signs of a heart attack. Electrocardiogram (ECG) results tell the story though, so be sure to insist upon one being performed if you've any doubts at all. Often mild heart attacks are left untreated and undetected because hospital staff mistake a heart attack for something more benign because the presenting symptoms are minor.\n\nRather than risk killing yourself with cough CPR, those experiencing a heart attack should heed the advice of physicians the world over — down a couple of Aspirin as an emergency remedy. Doctors believe that during the early stages of a heart attack, Aspirin — which is known to prevent blood platelets from sticking together — can prevent a clot from getting bigger. In 1991 Dr. Michael Vance, president of the American Board of Emergency Medicine, recommended that people who think they are having a heart attack should "Call 911, then take an Aspirin."
479525
Its not at all hazardous if taken in as diluded form as it is found in our stomch noramlly.\n\nIn abnoraml situation the acid in the stomch becomes of higher concentration, which we call as "acidity".
800422
If you are not a medical professional, pain is the last thing you should worry about. If you inject the drug into a nerve you can paralyze your "patient";  injecting the wrong drug (or simply enough air) into an artery can easily kill someone. You can only learn how to inject at a professional school from someone qualified. Needless to say, you can be prosecuted if you carry out a medical procedure that you are not authorized to do. You are warned!
208776
Yes.\n  A cardiac cath not only shows in more detail the exent of the disease, but also if there are compenstory mechanisms set up by other arteries to help these blockages.(i.e. backfilling from other arteries.).\n  Also a Left ventriculargram will be performed to assess the function of the heart muscle, and see how effective it is and if there are any areas of muscle no longer working.\n  If there are problems there when doing the cath, then they can be fixed, there and then by placing balloons or stents into the affected artery. (This is called a PCI or percutaneous coronary Intervention.)
1133702
It is impossible to give safe advice based on such limited info. But any irregular heart beat that is "continuous" and makes you feel bad should be evaluated= go NOW
1133176
There is a lot of misinformation here.  I'm an EMT/Paramedic in an ER and I've personally treated many, many heart attacks as well as other cardiac problems.\n\nFirst of all, there is no "guarantee" that you would experience left arm pain, pressure in the chest, difficulty breathing, or even chest pain when you have a heart attack.  These are some of the "textbook" symptoms, but not everyone will experience the same signs and symptoms.  In fact, women tend to have very atypical symptoms.  Many people suffer "silent" heart attacks, where no significant symptoms are present.\n\nSecond, when you have a heart attack, that does not mean that your heart has stopped beating (cardiac arrest).  In most heart attacks, cardiac arrest does NOT occur.  A heart attack simply means that a part of your heart tissue is experiencing damage, often due to a blockage of one of the coronary arteries that provides blood (and oxygen) to the tissue.  The earlier it is detected and treated, the more favorable the outcome.  \n\nIf you think you have experienced anything that could be cardiac, I would recommend that you see your physician ASAP.  They will probably perform an EKG (electrocardiogram) to look for abnormalities in your rhythm that may be indicative of a cardiac issue, and they will probably test certain enzyme levels in your blood (CKMB and troponin) which can also indicate a cardiac event.\n\nHowever, I would be very cautious of trying to get serious medical advice here.  I've seen a lot of poor advice and misinformation given in this category (and in this thread, for that matter).
366497
Let me guess...you're a lawyer or paralegal.  Okay, I'll humor you... One thing that can delay a catheterizaion is a concommitant condition that would put the patient at risk of adverse reaction or death.  Although you do not mention his troponin I level (which is more specific for cardiac muscle than CPK), this is clearly a myocardial infarction (STEMI), and the patient likely needs a cath.  Some cardiologists are hesitant to cath a patient who has recently received thrombolytics such as tPA or TNK, but there are clinical trials of patients being cathed very soon after receiving thrombolytics.  It also depends on whether the hospital where he was treated is able to perform an "interventional catheterization".  If not, they would only be able to visualize the arteries.  If they found a blockage, they would need to ship the patient to another hospital to perform the angioplasty or open heart surgery.  Hope this helps.
715093
It could be dangerous.  I had an aunt who had to have a pacemaker put in because her heart beat was too low.  \n\nIf you had it tested, what did the doctor recommend?
536839
Your vocab is a LITTLE confusing - there is no such thing as "pulmonary ventricular fibrillation" - just 'ventricular fibrillation'. This is the most serious cardiac arrythmia, and is rapidly fatal unless defibrillated (shocking the chest).\nThe vast majority of coronary angioplasty and stEnting (drug-eluting stents, or bare-metal stents) cases are performed without any occurrence of arrythmias. Especially if the initial blockage was only 80%, ie it was likely performed as an elective procedure, not as an emergency after an acute MI (heart attack).\n\nSo, in short, this is NOT normal.
831488
Sometimes you get a lot of stupid answers when you ask questions here.  Just ignore them.\n\nChest pain during climax is not a good thing.  I hope the other doctor your gyn sent you to is a cardiologist.  If not, you should see one.  Your mother dying from a heart attack at 40 puts you in the high risk group.  Your doctor should test your cholesterol level.  You should be given a stress test.  During this test you will do exercises (running on a tredmill, I think) while you are hooked up to a computer to watch your heart.  Also, if you are on birth control, call your doctor in the morning and ask if it is safe for you to be taking it.  I remember reading about birth control increasing risk for blood clotts.\n\nGood Luck.
1114278
Playing russian roulette.  Yes it can be quite dangerous.  Wishing it to go away is silly because without knowing what is going on and fixing the problem even exercise my be problematic.\n\nIf this true happened, call 911.\n\nPain has nothing to do with how mild a heart attack is.  How do you figure out the severity of a heart attack?\n\nPeople get heart attacks because the pipe/pipes (coronary arteries) that supply blood  to you heart muscle is clogged up. When the heart muscle cannot get enough blood (oxygen and nutrients), that muscle dies off.  Without knowing where the blockage is occurring and how much of a blockage, you cannot really assess the potential damage.  It is quite possible to have one mild heart attack and then another.  The key is time.  The faster you can open up your arteries the less amount of heart muscle damage.  \n\nIn addition, damages heart muscles are arrythmogenic.  It is not uncommon for patients with heart attacks to also damage the electrical system in there heart.  They can develope fatal arrythmias.\n\nNext, heart problems can occur on a spectrum.  Patients can have stable angina unstable angina and heart attack.  How can we be sure that your chest pain is not unstable angina?  The chest pain can be a warning sign for a major heart attack.\n\nLastly, without proper medicines after you heart attack, the dead area in your heart undergoes changes ie remodeling.  This remodeling is the normal healing process but it changes the mechanics of your heart.  It can worsen the functioning of your heart.
515313
It varies, how many stenotic (narrow) areas there are in the arteries, whether all of them need treatment or not.. It also depends on the cardiologist's experience, some like to take longer, some take a shorter time, again this depends a bit on the patient's anatomy, available equipment (in this day and age most cath labs have an extensive variety of angioplasty equipment..) etc. In my daily work I encounter angioplasties that take anything ffom 30 minutes to three hours. It is not necessarily bad sign that it takes longer, it just means there is more work to do.\nMost of the angioplasties (PTCA) are done under local anesthesia and sometimes sedation, very rarely under general anesthesia, unless it is an emergency PTCA or patient has other medical problems. Recovery period is much shorter, you are right, hospital stay is shorter and costs less money. Also the risk of general anesthesia is not there. Risk of heart attack, stroke, death is always there,  and " minor" complications such as hematoma (bruise) in the groin, infection in the puncture site, allergic reaction to contrast (x-ray dye) etc.
685386
No...they are not safe and can in some cases lead to heart failure..Reason being that sudden rush of blood to the penis leads to sudden blood loss from the heart, lungs and brain.and major organs because of unnatural forces...if something as simple as viagra need warning by heart surgeons what do you think about pumps?hmmm\n2) it can also damage the blood vessels/tissues in the penis...