Once the procedure is completed, the patient will be moved to a cardiac recovery room. They may feel groggy from the sedative. The catheter insertion site may be bruised and sore.

If the groin area was used as the point of catheter insertion, then patients will be instructed to lie in bed with legs out straight. The physician may choose to use one of two techniques for removing the sheath that was placed at the initiation of the procedure. The traditional technique is to wait until the effects of the anticoagulant have passed (four to six hours) and then to apply pressure while removing the sheath from the femoral artery. It is common to use a hemostatic device that allows the placement of a stitch or plug in the artery wall. This allows patients to get up out of bed within 2 hours after catheterization.

If the wrist or arm was used as the point of catheter insertion, then the patient does not need to stay in bed and can be discharged in two hours. In either case, the sedative will have worn off before discharge. Throughout the post-catheterization monitoring, the point of catheter entrance will be checked for bleeding, swelling or inflammation. Patients are encouraged to drink plenty of extra fluids during this period of rest to help flush the dye from their body. Results should be available within a matter of hours.

Patients are given instructions from the medical staff regarding the following: