A catheterization laboratory, commonly referred to as a cath lab, is a specialized examination room in a hospital or clinic equipped with diagnostic imaging technology used to visualize the arteries and chambers of the heart. The cath lab is staffed by a multidisciplinary team, including a medical practitioner (normally either a consultant cardiologist or radiologist), cardiac physiologist, radiographer, and nurse. The catheterization procedure itself involves threading a long, thin tube, called a catheter, through an artery or vein in the leg or arm and into the heart. The cath lab is equipped with state-of-the-art imaging technology used to view the arteries and check how well blood is flowing to and from the heart. The lab is designed to allow medical professionals to take pictures of the coronary arteries, which are the arteries that feed the heart and can become blocked due to atherosclerosis. The cath lab is where tests and procedures including ablation, angiogram, angioplasty, and implantation of pacemakers / ICDs are carried out. The procedures performed in the cath lab can be diagnostic or therapeutic, and they include coronary angiography, angioplasty, percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), transcatheter aortic valve replacement, balloon septostomy, and an electrophysiology study or catheter ablation. Emergency cardiac diagnostic, interventional, and therapeutic procedures are available at all times.