ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION Cardiac catheterization is an important diagnostic and therapeutic procedure in pediatric patient with congenital heart disease. The four commonly used indications for cardiac catheterization in the pediatric patient are to make an anatomic diagnosis, to obtain a hemodynamic assessment, to perform a pharmacologic or catheter-based intervention, and to make an electrophysiologic diagnosis and/or perform an electrophysiologic intervention. With improvements in noninvasive imaging (echocardiography and magnetic resonance imaging) the use of cardiac catheterization to make an anatomic diagnosis has significantly reduced. Today, the decision to catheterize a child with congenital heart disease is based on whether the anatomic diagnosis by noninvasive methods is incomplete or inconsistent with the clinical findings. In the preoperative patient, the surgeon’s judgment as to the adequacy of the noninvasive imaging also is a major factor in determining whether or not a cardiac catheterization should be performed.
