Pre-Surgery Angiogram

[Hockey Heart]

Hello everyone,

So I am scheduled for Aortic Valve Replacement Surgery on April 28th. Got scheduled with this date two days ago.

I am also scheduled for my pre-surgery angiogram for April 18th. Just got scheduled for this 5 minutes ago mostly because I will be out of town until the 17th.

I know there should be a period of time between these two procedures in order for the body to get rid of the dye from the angiogram. My question is, is 10 days a long enough period of time? My Cardiologist's assistant doesn't know the answer and is checking with the surgeon's assistant. Do any of you know about this?

Thank you,
- Hockey Heart

 

[Lynlw]

Hello everyone,

So I am scheduled for Aortic Valve Replacement Surgery on April 28th. Got scheduled with this date two days ago.

I am also scheduled for my pre-surgery angiogram for April 18th. Just got scheduled for this 5 minutes ago mostly because I will be out of town until the 17th.

I know there should be a period of time between these two procedures in order for the body to get rid of the dye from the angiogram. My question is, is 10 days a long enough period of time? My Cardiologist's assistant doesn't know the answer and is checking with the surgeon's assistant. Do any of you know about this?

Thank you,
- Hockey Heart

I'm sure it is fine. Many people, especially if they are traveling for the surgery, have the cath a couple of days before the surgery. My son has had cath one day and surgery the next a few times.

 

[Mentu]

HH, may people have the heart cath (angiogram) the day before surgery. It just depends upon the preferences of the surgeon and the routine of the hospital. If you have a doctor that doesn't give you to much narcotic, it can be a very interesting experience. The doctor that did my last one wanted me awake so that I could help by holding my breath from time to time. He let me watch the monitor and explained what we were seeing. Not many people get a chance to see the inside of their heart with their very own trail guide. HH, unless you have a condition that requires more time, ten days should be quite enough.

Larry

 

[normofthenorth]

I enjoyed watching the big screens during my angiogram/cath. (Coronary arteries are much skinnier than I imagined, unlike the root of the Aorta.) Waiting calmly and patiently for the two entry points to heal fully (one vein and one artery in my case, both in the groin) was much less fun, but it was pretty good in a week or so. No bicycling or weight-lifting during that time, though.

 

[mainframe]

Having only 1 kidney, the span between my cath and surgery was a concern of my cardio's. He wanted to make sure to give enough time for my kidney to bounce back from the hit from the dye to be in as good as shape as possible for the surgery. One week would have been sufficient according to my cardio for this to happen, but I ended up having surgery a few weeks later instead of just 1.

 

[Jkm7]

I had an emergency cath and then surgery five days later and it was fine. No problem at all.

 

[Hockey Heart]

Thank you all for the feedback. I'm sure I will be fine with the Angio 10 days out and no other issues.

 

[Jason]

In my case I didn't have an actual angiogram, but rather a CCTA, or coronary CT angiogram. Information here if you haven't heard of this:

http://my.clevelandclinic.org/heart/services/tests/radiograph/coronarycta.aspx

I liked this as it was non-invasive. It was like a normal CT except that they administered drugs to get your heart rate to slow down and become very regular. With this, they were able to take pictures at the exact time that the blood was flushing through the cardiac arteries and look for any blockages in this fashion. After the CCTA, I was told by my surgeon that there wasn't a need for any bypass while we were in there, which was a relief to me.

I had my CCTA with dye on Friday, and surgery on Monday. I didn't seem to have any ill effects, but I don't know if the dye is the same for the two procedures.

 

[kailin]

I had the same question about the timing of the angiogram relative to surgery so this thread was very timely!

Jason, I found out about the CT by researching my current cardiologist, but from what I've found so far, it's not covered by Medicare. I sure would prefer it to the catheterization, though! My cardio said the surgeon insists on the cath-angio.

I'm a BAVD, don't know if anything else yet - that's what the left heart catheterization is for, apparently.

 

[paige]

In my case I didn't have an actual angiogram, but rather a CCTA, or coronary CT angiogram. Information here if you haven't heard of this:

http://my.clevelandclinic.org/heart/services/tests/radiograph/coronarycta.aspx

I liked this as it was non-invasive. It was like a normal CT except that they administered drugs to get your heart rate to slow down and become very regular. With this, they were able to take pictures at the exact time that the blood was flushing through the cardiac arteries and look for any blockages in this fashion. After the CCTA, I was told by my surgeon that there wasn't a need for any bypass while we were in there, which was a relief to me.

I had my CCTA with dye on Friday, and surgery on Monday. I didn't seem to have any ill effects, but I don't know if the dye is the same for the two procedures.

I had a CT angio as well, Jason. I was glad to have the option!