Update on cardiac catheterization and coronary arteriography.

Indications for cardiac catheterization--including coronary angiography--have substantially broadened with the advent of nonsurgical therapeutic interventions performed in the catheterization laboratory. Consequently, the increasing number of facilities performing these procedures require clear and unmistakable guidelines regarding the indications for and the safety and ethical aspects of the procedure. Technical developments in image acquisition and evaluation, such as quantitative analysis, allow the exact, reproducible assessment of minute changes in cardiac morphology and function, the evaluation of which becomes increasingly important in prognosis-related clinical trials.