Patient Instructions Following Cardiac Catheterization (Adult)

Important Information

It is important to understand how to care for yourself child while you recover from cardiac catheterization at home. Review these instructions and ask your healthcare team about any questions or concerns you may have. 

Instructions for care after cardiac catheterization

After the cardiac catheterization, a pressure dressing will be placed over the catheter insertion site. This dressing must stay on overnight. If you are staying in the hospital, the healthcare team will remove the dressing in the morning. If you are going home after the procedure, follow the instructions for removing the dressing the next morning.

Removing the dressing 

1. Wash your hands.  

2. Remove the gauze over the insertion site. The gauze may cling to the skin and bleed as the dressing is removed.  If bleeding occurs, apply gentle pressure to the site with a new gauze pad. If site is still bleeding after 10 minutes, call your healthcare team. 

3. Leave site open to air.

Cleaning the insertion site

• Keep the insertion site clean and dry. 

• Clean the site with mild soap and water once a day and when it is soiled. Pat dry. Continue to do this until a scab forms. 

• Underwear can irritate the site. You may cover the site with a bandage, but it is best to leave it uncovered as much as possible. If you choose to use a bandage, change it every time you go to the bathroom. 

• Avoid tub baths, hot tubs and swimming pools until the site has a scab, usually in 1 week.

• Do not put cream or ointment on the site for 7 days or until after the site has scabbed. 

• You may have a bruise near the catheter site. This may take 1 or 2 weeks to go away.

Activities and diet

• You may return to work 2 days after discharge. If your job requires lifting, straining, or rough activity, you will need to avoid these for 1 week. 

• Limit rough activities for 1 week after discharge unless otherwise instructed by your healthcare team. Examples of activities to avoid are housekeeping, running, working out, and contact sports. 

• Do not lift anything that weighs more than 5 pounds for 1 week.

• Avoid sexual activity for 1 week after your catheterization.

• You may resume normal eating habits.

Dental visits

You may require antibiotics before dental work, including regular cleanings. This is to prevent an infection of the heart that you may be at risk for following cardiac catheterization. Let your cardiologist or primary care provider know when your child is scheduled for dental care so they can order antibiotics.  

Call the cardiology team immediately if you have:

• Temperature of 100.4°F (38°C) or higher 

• Increasing pain 

• Tingling in your arm or leg 

• Trouble walking 

• Calf pain with walking

• Coolness or color change (gray, blue) in your arm or leg 

• Increase in the size of the bruise at the catheter insertion site

• Signs of infection at the catheter site: 

• Increase in swelling 

• Redness 

• Drainage 

• Odor

Cardiac Center Contact Information

• Cardiac Prep and Recovery Unit/CPRU: (267) 425-6400, Monday - Friday 8:00AM -5:00 PM

• Outpatient Cardiology Clinic: (215) 590-4040, Monday – Friday, 8:30 AM - 5:00 PM

• Voorhees Cardiology office: (856) 783-0287, phone hours 24 hours a day for VNJ patients

• Weekdays after 5:00 PM, weekends, and on holidays please call the Main Hospital operator at (215) 590-1000 and ask to page the cardiology fellow on call.

Reviewed on 9/12/24 by Farzana Shah, CRNP and Lisa Brogan, BSN, RN