Cardiac catheterization is a procedure in which a small tube (called a catheter) is inserted into an artery and passed into the heart. It is used to measure pressure in the heart and the amount of blood pumped by the heart.
Cardiac catheterization (also called heart catheterization) is a diagnostic procedure which does a comprehensive examination of how the heart and its blood vessels function.
Under fluoroscopic guidance, a guide-wire (a thin wire that guides the catheter insertion) is threaded through a brachial or femoral artery to the heart
The most serious complications include stroke and myocardial infarction. Other complications include cardiac arrhythmias, pericardial tamponade, vessel injury, and renal failure
I got one stent put in. Cost was about $22,000 for surgeon, anaesthesioligist, and hospital stay on day. This was 2008, in a large Midwest city. Figure more on either coast. BTW this isn't strictly...