What not to do after heart cath?

Catheters — flexible, ultrathin tubes — have changed the way heart disease is diagnosed and treated. What once required large incisions and long recovery time can now be accomplished with tiny incisions, less pain and faster recovery.

Here, Robert Pyo, MD, Director of the Stony Brook Cardiac Catheterization Laboratories at Stony Brook University Hospital and Stony Brook Southampton Hospital, answers your cardiac catheterization FAQs.

What is cardiac catheterization?
Cardiac catheterization, or cardiac cath, is a non-surgical procedure that allows physicians to diagnose and treat diseases of the heart muscle, valves or coronary (heart) arteries. The technique is crucial to lifesaving procedures that range from measuring blood flow in your arteries and heart to unblocking a narrowed artery to providing support for a heart too weak to pump well.

What takes place during a cath procedure? 
During a cardiac cath, your doctor inserts the catheter into a blood vessel in yo

how long is a heart cath procedure take

how long does a cardiac catheterization procedure take