What is the catheter laboratory?

Catterizing laboratory is a special room in a medical environment equipped with technology that helps in the process of catheterization. The catheterization laboratory is often referred to as a cat laboratory, which is commonly used for cardiac catheterization, in which the tube is placed in the heart for access to coronary circulation. Most catheterization laboratories have two main types of equipment: X -ray machine and image enlargement. The patient is administered by a local anesthetic and connected to the devices that will be used, usually X -ray and image amplification devices. The catheter is then inserted into the body, usually through the femoral artery into the thigh or in the arm and maneuver over the body to the heart; The dye is injected to illuminate blood flow. Blood pressure is monitored throughout the process. X -ray machines show real -time images in coronary arteries, while imaging tools intensify and increase the findings from X -ray.

In the older catheterization laboratory, the Cine Film was traditionally employed - the type of film that was once used to shoot homemade films. With progress in technology, most laboratories left this approach and decided to digital means to record the catheterization process. Since 2000, digital catheterization has become a standard type of hospital cardiac laboratory.

These medical facilities with access to state -of -the -art technologies often have catheterization laboratories called BiPlane laboratories. The term biplane refers to the fact that the laboratory has two X -ray sources when working on one patient. During the procedure in the laboratory of biplan catheterization, the technicians can get two simultaneous views of the proprocess. As a result, the whole procedure is much shorter and is particularly beneficial for those patients who can be sensitive to the dye used. Catterization dye can cause kidney problems in some individuals and the shortened process helps to get the dye out of the body much faster.

In most medical environments, there is a team of experts working in the catheter laboratory. During catheterization, a doctor, nurse, technical laboratory, anesthesiologist and radiographic specialist may be present. Although the procedure is not considered to be a surgery, it is a serious form of medical testing that is solved with maximum care and professionalism.