I just had a heart ultrasound video as a regular check-up that was offered by my doctor. It checks to see how the heart is pumping and how the valves are working. They also checked main arteries in other areas of the body to see if everything is working properly.

Why are you having an invasive procedure rather than ultrasound? (No radiation with ultrasound)

A cath. is the gold standard. I had an ultrasound 2 years ago that showed renal arteries blocked extremely bad. From these results I had a cath done and when I woke up was told that they did not put in a stent and the arteries were fine. I asked the Dr. what about the ultrasound and he said they are not that accurate.

Dr. Marwan Mihyu, MD performed a heart cath on me today at the Florida Heart & Vascular office on Santa Barbara near TVRH. Have to say the procedure was as professional as any I have experienced in any hospital and am happy & relieved to confirm that my arteries are basically clear. Although not needed thankfully, should an emergency have occurred they were prepared to move me immediately to TVRH.

I would have no qualms about having this procedure done at their offices.

I've had a heart cath performed three times. The first was in 2007 and I received a stent, that was at St. Joseph Hospital Towson, Maryland. In 2008 I had just a cath done at Sinai Hospital Baltimore, MD and in 2011 a cath at the VA Hospital Gainesville, Florida. I had surgery about ten years earlier on both hands for carpal tunnel syndrome performed at the Surgery Center of Forest Hill, Maryland. That surgery center had the appearance and standards that I would find in any hospital. In fact, if I hadn't seen the outside of the building I would of thought I was in a hospital. So don't overlook surgery centers just because of the name.

Thanks for telling me; I won't take the results too seriously. I'm pretty sure my arteries are clean so I'm not worried about that. I'm mainly interested to see if I might have an aortic aneurysm. I'll get the results at my next scheduled appointment, in about 6 weeks. Although, they said they will notify me if something is seriously wrong.

Heart Cath
 

If it is not too late, DO NOT HAVE THIS PROCEDURE DONE IN A DOCTOR'S OFFICE. If there should be complications you need to be in a hospital I had a heart cath done in Boston, through my wrist (which was a piece of cake) and they still kept me overnight. Good Luck!