Cardiac catheterization refers to the introduction of some form of catheter into a blood vessel with the purpose of measuring pressures and/or introducing contrast material to study the anatomy of a blood vessel or the heart. An angiogram refers more specifically to the injection of contrast material, which allows us to define a specific area. Intervention is a term used for the process of mechanically treating an obstruction within an artery, usually to the heart. Interventions include balloon angioplasty, which is the expansion of a decrease in the opening of the artery by plaque material. In many cases now the balloon angioplasty is followed by the insertion of a stent, which is a mesh device, used to maintain the integrity of the opening of the artery.
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