About CathLabViewer
Built and maintained by James Addis, Senior Radiographer, Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust.
Last updated 15 October 2026
CathLabViewer is a small educational tool built for medical and radiography students who want a basic, hands-on understanding of cardiac anatomy and the fluoroscopy projections used in the cardiac catheterization lab. Rotate the heart freely, snap to the standard views, and watch how the RAO / LAO and CRA / CAU angles change.
Disclaimer
For educational use only. CathLabViewer is not a medical device and is not intended for clinical decision-making, diagnosis or treatment. The 3D model is an anatomical approximation; real patient anatomy and standard view angles vary.
Ownership and disclosure
CathLabViewer is a personal educational project written and maintained by James Addis in his own time. It is free to use, carries no advertising, and asks for no payment or login. The views and angles are not influenced by any commercial relationship. The opinions are the author's own and do not represent Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust.
References
The projection naming, angulation conventions and vessel-to-view pairings used throughout the site follow the published literature below. The preset view lists on the procedure pages are the angles used in the author's own cath laboratory; other centres use different names and angles for the same vessels.
- Grainger RG. Terminology for radiographic projections. Br Heart J. 1981;45(2):109. The convention used here — a projection is named for the part of the body nearest the image receptor. doi.org/10.1136/hrt.45.2.109
- Taylor KW, McLoughlin MJ, Aldridge HE. Specification of angulated projections in coronary arteriography. Cathet Cardiovasc Diagn. 1977;3(4):367–74. doi.org/10.1002/ccd.1810030406
- Sos TA, Baltaxe HA. Cranial and caudal angulation for coronary angiography revisited. Circulation. 1977;56(1):119–20. doi.org/10.1161/01.cir.56.1.119
- Miller RA, Warkentin DL, Felix WG, Hashemian M, Leighton RF. Angulated views in coronary angiography. AJR Am J Roentgenol. 1980;134(2):407–12. doi.org/10.2214/ajr.134.2.407
- Di Mario C, Sutaria N. Coronary angiography in the angioplasty era: projections with a meaning. Heart. 2005;91(7):968–76. The basis for which vessel each preset view is intended to open up. Heart 2005;91:968–76
- Green P, Frobisher P, Ramcharitar S. Optimal angiographic views for invasive coronary angiography: a guide for trainees. Br J Cardiol. 2016;23:110–13. BJCardio 2016;23:110–13
- Aquilina O, Grech V, Felice H, Debono J, Fenech A. Normal adult coronary angiography. Images Paediatr Cardiol. 2006;8(2):1–16. PMC3232562
- Smith IR, Cameron J, Mengersen KL, Rivers JT. Evaluation of coronary angiographic projections to balance the clinical yield with the radiation risk. Br J Radiol. 2012;85(1017):e722–8. PMC3487091
References were checked on 15 October 2026.
Model credits
The full-heart 3D geometry is a CC-Attribution licensed model by Get 3D Models, distributed via getglb.com.
The rib cage and spine overlay is "Ribcage+Spine_Human Skeleton" by My Segmenter, NIH 3D Print Exchange entry 3DPX-016837, licensed under CC BY 4.0. The mesh has been decimated for web delivery.
The coronary tree is a stylised procedural model — each segment (LMCA, LAD, LCx, OM1/2, D1/2, RCA, AM, PDA, PLV, aortic root) is generated from anatomically-inspired control points so it can be individually labelled, highlighted and linked to the projections that show it best. It is a teaching schematic, not a patient-derived reconstruction; real coronary geometry varies considerably between patients. The reference anatomy used to lay out the control points is the open-source Z-Anatomy atlas (CC BY-SA 4.0).
View conventions
View naming follows the SCAI / ACC convention used in adult cath labs. View names describe the position of the image intensifier (detector) relative to the patient. RAO = right anterior oblique, LAO = left anterior oblique, CRA = cranial, CAU = caudal.