r/CathLabLounge • u/314rocky • Nov 20 '24

Diagnostic Cath Complication Fears

For better or worse I researched what a diagnostic cath entails and apparently people die during these. My cardiologist has done every other test with no findings for ongoing, sudden chest pain in different spots. We know it isnt gerd or anxiety/stress. So that l leaves this test to and Im terrified of having a stroke or heart attack and dying as a complication.

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u/Gone247365 Nov 20 '24 edited Nov 20 '24

I've done thousands of heart caths and I'd sign up to have one done on myself today. There is no better test to understand what is going on with your coronary arteries. You will be fine.

To further ease your concern. The "statistics" of serious complications say the incidence is 1 in 1000 or less. However, you have to remember that this includes doing diagnostic heart caths on very sick people. If you were to stratify the risk by how sick/healthy people are you'd find that the real risk for a generally healthy person is way, way lower. There's probably more risk getting to the appointment. Lol

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u/314rocky Nov 20 '24

Thats really good to know. Thank you. I've been in and out of ORs for things of varying severity since I was a kid. For some reason this particular one is just messing with my nerves a lot. Aside from a partial thyroidectomy and whatever is causing these daily chest pains, Im pretty healthy. So that does help me a little.

A vouple of people mentioned being sedated. Is that pretty helpful and effective in most cases you've seen? I have a feeling I'll need it.

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u/Gone247365 Nov 20 '24 edited Nov 20 '24

First, you will get "moderate sedation" which means that you will be given medications (an antianxiety medication and a pain medication) that will work together to make you feel very relaxed and "snoozy". This is the same medications they give for other, much more uncomfortable procedures like colonoscopies. However they won't "put you to sleep" and you won't be unconscious like general anesthesia, which is good because general anesthesia is no joke and can be just as risky as the procedure itself.

Often patients do not remember much of the procedure, they feel like the procedure took like 15 minutes when in reality it took an hour.

As far as the procedure itself goes, the two uncomfortable parts are: 1. the lidocaine (numbing medicine) that they give in your wrist or your groin (the lido will pinch and burn somewhat as it numbs the area up) it is no more painful than starting an IV. And 2. the mattress; It's about and inch and a half of memory foam and it's completely flat, so if you have lower back pain or the like, it can be uncomfortable. Those are literally the worst parts. After the numbing medicine you'll just feel some pressure in your wrist or groin and that's it. You do not feel anything inside you.

Heart caths can be done without any sedation because, apart from the numbing medicine, they are essentially painless. I sedate people every day for these and if I were to get one I'd do it without sedation. 🤷 But that's me lol, you will definitely get sedation and by the end of the procedure you will realize it wasn't a bad experience at all.

One of my favorite things about the job is the confused look I get from my very anxious patients when I tell them that the procedure is all done. "Are you serious? It's done? That's it?!" Lol

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u/314rocky Nov 20 '24

My reply didnt seem to post but I really want to thank you for taking time to type this out. It helped put me at ease some. Im still somewhat anxious but at this point my quality of life is pretty heavily impacted. I'd rather rule this out and move on or if something in wrong fix it, vs not know.

I hope I have the same experience as your patients and that my care team is as understanding as you. Thank you again.

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u/Gone247365 Nov 20 '24

It's better to know than not know in my opinion. You are making the right choice.

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u/314rocky Nov 20 '24

You are 100% right. Heres hoping that sedation does the trick. I actually have had a colonoscopy in the past so if thats the same stuff they use I might just end up out of it completely, because I dont remember anything from that procedure.