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Cardiac catheterization was developed as a tool for observing the heart in action diagnostic catheterization. Today, many repairs that once required surgery can be accomplished by catheterization.
A catheter is a very narrow tube fed into a vein or artery that leads to the heart, allowing a close look at the structures inside and giving doctors a way to deliver different tools directly to the heart.
By using a catheter doctors can:
- closely observe heart structure
- measure blood pressures at specific locations within the heart
- deliver focused radio waves to sever errant electrical connections
- close holes
- expand narrowed passages
- open new passages where needed.
Cardiac catheterization can be performed on children of any age - even newborns immediately after birth.
With seven full-time physicians performing 1,500 procedures each year, the catheterization program at Children's is one of the largest in the country.
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