catheterbased

Catheter-based refers to medical procedures and devices that are delivered to a target site through a catheter, a flexible tube inserted into a blood vessel or body cavity. Catheter-based approaches are used across specialties, most notably in cardiovascular and interventional radiology, to diagnose, treat, or monitor disease without open surgery.

In cardiovascular care, catheter-based methods include percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) to treat blocked coronary arteries, balloon angioplasty, stent placement, and transcatheter therapies for structural heart disease such as transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR), and catheter-based ablation for arrhythmias.

In other areas, catheter-based techniques are used for embolization of bleeding, tumor ablation, nephrostomy management, renal denervation, and targeted drug delivery.

Procedures are guided by imaging such as fluoroscopy, intravascular ultrasound, optical coherence tomography, and echocardiography. They rely on real-time feedback and precise device delivery.

Advantages include minimal invasiveness, reduced hospital stay, faster recovery, and suitability for patients who are not ideal surgical candidates; limitations include vascular access complications, bleeding, infection, contrast-related kidney injury, and procedure-specific risks such as stroke or valve embolization.