09/11/2026
"Cardiac catheterization" sounds bigger than what most people actually experience.
Here's the plain version. A thin, flexible tube is guided into an artery, usually at the wrist and sometimes the groin, and up toward the heart. Your cardiologist will tell you which. Contrast dye is injected so the arteries show up clearly, and your cardiologist watches them on a screen in real time.
You are not under general anesthesia for a diagnostic cath. Medication through an IV helps you relax, and the site is numbed. Most people describe pressure rather than pain.
It's how your cardiologist stops estimating what's going on in your arteries and simply looks.
We perform these at KHC Heart & Vascular Center, our outpatient cath lab. Questions? Give us a call at (423) 850-0776.