ABSTRACT
The authors introduce the concept of intravascular catheters, as well as the various functions and characteristics that help interventionalists achieve different procedural goals. The chapter begins with a discussion of the physical features of catheters in general, including material composition, size, length, and holes. The authors continue by discussing specific catheters that are frequently utilized in the interventional suite, and this chapter will include pictures of these. The chapter concludes with a discussion of microcatheters, which are utilized in select clinical situations where very fine small instrumentation is required for smaller interventional targets.
