The pressure of the blood inside the different heart chambers is measured. It is a special kind of X-ray of the heart and arteries taken after injecting a dye into the heart. From studying this shadow, the doctor knows the size and shape of the heart and its different chambers and its ability to work normally. The catheterization and angiogram tests are extremely useful ones to the doctors who are planning the treatment of a patient with heart disease. At the same time, there are some risks involved in the procedure.
Some people have an allergy to the dye used in angiography.
Rarely, catheterization can cause irregularity in heart beats, injury to the heart chambers or sudden worsening of coronary artery disease . In very rare instances, particularly in very sick patients, death has occurred. Before a patient undergoes a catheterization and angiogram, a detailed discussion with the attending doctor will be useful . Any doubts about the procedure could be cleared, and the risks to a particular patient could be explained and understood. These then are the commonly performed tests to diagnose heart disease.