A cardiac cath provides information on how well your heart works, identifies problems and allows for procedures, such as angioplasty and stenting, to open blocked arteries. During a cardiac cath your health care team may:

• Take X-rays using contrast dye to look for narrowed or blocked coronary arteries. This is called coronary angiography or percutaneous transluminal coronary arteriography.
• Perform a percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), such as coronary angioplasty with stenting, to open narrowed or blocked segments of a coronary artery.
• Perform a valvuloplasty to widen a narrowed heart valve opening.
• Check the pressure in the four chambers of your heart.
• Take samples of blood to measure the oxygen content in the four chambers of your heart.
• Look for defects in the valves or chambers of your heart.
• Remove a small piece of heart tissue (biopsy) to examine under a microscope.