No More Routine Catheterization for Valvular Heart Disease?

Should cardiac catheterization continue to be a routine procedure in patients undergoing surgery for valvular heart disease? Since the introduction of valvular heart surgery over three decades ago, the clinical assessment of a patient with valvular heart disease in most institutions has routinely been followed by cardiac catheterization if cardiac surgery has been anticipated. The presentation by Martin St. John Sutton and his associates in this issue of the Journal suggests that routine cardiac catheterization is unnecessary for valve replacement and that the procedure can be reserved for selected situations.1 Their 305 patients, who underwent valve replacement during 1978, were . . .