Pediatric Therapeutic Cardiac Catheterization A Statement for Healthcare Professionals From the Council on Cardiovascular Disease in the Young, American Heart Association

Improvednoninvasive diagnostic techniques have narrowed the indica-tions for diagnostic cardiac catheterization, and the laboratoryis now increasingly being used for therapeutic procedures.Concern about the appropriateness of some applications ofpediatric therapeutic cardiac catheterization has arisen recentlybecause of numerous catheter techniques, the increased num-bers of persons and centers using these techniques, and theincreased number of lesion types thought to be amenable tocatheter therapy.In comparison with diagnostic cardiac catheterization, ther-apeutic catheter procedures require more time and resources,are costlier and riskier, and demand more technical trainingand expertise. High levels of skill are required of the operatorwho performs the various therapeutic catheterization tech-niques. These procedures should only be performed in insti-tutions with appropriate facilities, personnel, and programs.