Usefulness of right-sided cardiac catheterization during “routine” coronary angiography

Right- and Left-Sided Heart Catheterization as a Quality Marker for Catheterization Laboratories (from the National Veterans Affairs Clinical Assessment Reporting and Tracking Program)

“…5 In another study of 2,582 bilateral cardiac catheterizations by Kogan et al, pulmonary hypertension was detected in 46% of "routine" RHCs. 6 Laine et al performed a large study of >140,000 patients, using Medicare data from the state of Pennsylvania from 1992 to 1993, and showed that 8% of cases had a mean PA pressure of >30 mm Hg. 7 Various organizations, such as Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality methods have used the rate of BHC as a measure of hospital quality.…”