Complications of cardiac catheterization: one centre's experience

Data on complication rates in a cardiac catheterization laboratory were prospectively gathered over a 6-year period. During this time 7960 catheterizations were performed. Death occurred in seven (0.1%) of the cases. The difference between the mortality rates for procedures performed with and without systemically administered heparin (0.04% and 0.2% respectively) was barely statistically significant (p less than 0.05). A significant complication occurred in 1.5% of the cases; however, most did not have long-term sequelae. No significant change in the annual rate of such complications was seen during the study period. Such a tabulation permits audit of quality of care, points out changing trends in morbidity and offers meaningful information on the safety of cardiac catheterization to referring physicians and their patients.