Angiography

Table of Contents

Angiography is a medical imaging technology which employs X-rays to examine the blood arteries in your body. Angiograms are the X-rays produced by an angiography. This is generally accomplished by injecting a radiopaque contrast agent into the blood vessel and imaging it with X-ray techniques like fluoroscopy. This test is used to look for narrow, obstructed, swollen or deformed arteries or veins in the brain, heart, abdomen and legs, among other places.

Why angiography is needed

When blood vessels are blocked, damaged or abnormal in any way as a result chest pain, heart attack, stroke, or other problems may occur. Angiography helps the physician to determine the source of the problem and the extent of damage to the blood vessel segments that are being examined.

Egas Moniz, a Portuguese physician and neurologist, first invented the procedure in 1927 at the University of Lisbon . He contrasted X-ray cerebral angiography to diagnose a variety of nerve illnesses, including tumours, artery disease and arteriovenous malformations.

In this discipline, Moniz is regarded as a pioneer. In Lisbon, he conducted the first cerebral angiography in 1927, while in the same city, Reynaldo dos Santos performed the first aortogram in 1929.

Angiography is done in a hospital X-ray or radiology department. It usually takes between 30 minutes and may up to 2 hours and you can usually go home the same day.

Types of Angiography

Coronary angiography.
Cerebral angiography.
Peripheral angiography.
Fluorescence angiography.
OCT angiography.
Micro angiography
Post mortem CT angiography.

Most Common is coronary angiogram. A coronary angiography is a medical treatment that involves seeing the blood arteries of the patient’s heart using X-ray imaging. Doctors use this procedure to determine if there is any restriction in the flow of blood into a patient’s heart. In this way, the operation is part of a larger group of cardiac or heart catheterization procedures.