Cardiovascular Medicine Pharmacology

Interventional Cardiology

Andreas Gruentzig is known as the father of interventional cardiology after the development of angioplasty by interventional radiologist Charles Dotter which is mainly deals with the catheter based treatment of structural heart diseases. A large number of procedures can be done on the heart by catheterization where the most frequently includes the insertion of a sheath into the femoral artery and cannulating the heart under X-ray visualization (fluoroscopy). For cannulation, the radial-artery also can be used and this method having numerous advantages which consist of the accessibility of the artery in most patients, the easy control of bleeding even in anticoagulated patients, the enhancement of relief because patients are able to sit and walk immediately following the procedure, and the near absence of clinically significant sequelae in patients with a normal Allen test. In the other side to this methodology include spasm of the artery & pain, inability to use larger-catheters required in various procedures and also more radiation exposure.