Cardiac Catheterization

If your physician suspects that your chest pain is caused by a narrowing of the blood vessels of the heart, you may undergo cardiac catheterization in one of the hospital's state-of-the-art cardiac catheterization laboratories. Using the latest technology, cardiologists inject dye into the arteries to see if and where there is a blockage. Pictures taken during catheterizations help cardiologists plan the best course of treatment. This procedure is available 24-hours a day / 7 days a week.

Catheterizations done in the hospital's digital "swing lab," the first in New England, are performed efficiently, meaning you spend less time in the laboratory. The catheterization equipment serves two labs. As soon as the procedure in Lab A is completed, the equipment can be swung over to the freshly prepared Lab B, with no waiting. More patients can be treated, so waiting time is reduced.

Patients who undergo a cardiac catherterization are usually discharged that same day. If an angioplasty or stat procedure is performed, the patient usually spends one night in the hospital and goes home the nexxt day.