Pre-Catheterization Instructions

University Heart specialists have put together a list of instructions for patients undergoing cardiac catheterization procedures at University Heart. These instructions include:

• Do not take diuretics on the day of the procedure. Generic names of common diuretics include furosemide, spironolactone, and hydrochlorothiazide. (This medicine is also combined with other medicines - lisinopril, for example - for blood pressure control). If you take a combination medicine with a diuretic in it, confirm with the outpatient nurse coordinator whether you should take it before your procedure.
• Confirm with your physician or medical professional how long to stay off your blood thinner (generic name is warfarin) at least three days before your procedure.
• Do not take metformin the night before the procedure, the day of the procedure, or for two days after the procedure.
• Do not take other oral hypoglycemics, your “blood sugar pills,” the day of procedure, including the generic glyburide.
• If you take insulin injections, give yourself only half the normal dose the night before the procedure and none on the day of the procedure.
• Unless indicated, you can take aspirin or the generic clopidogrel bisulfate.