Angiography

What is an Angiography?
Angiography is an x-ray exam of the arteries and veins to diagnose blockages and other blood vessel problems.
This x-ray procedure, also called an angiogram is performed by interventional radiologists.

How does the Procedure Work?
During the angiogram, the doctor inserts a thin tube (catheter) into the artery through a small nick in the skin about the size of the tip of a pencil. A substance called a contrast agent (X-ray dye) is injected to make the blood vessels visible on the X-ray.

Why Perform it?
One of the most common reasons for angiograms is to see if there is a blockage or narrowing in a blood vessel that may interfere with the normal flow of blood through the body. In many cases, the interventional radiologist can treat a blocked blood vessel without surgery while the angiogram is being performed. Interventional radiologists treat blockages with techniques called angioplasty and thrombolysis.

Some other reasons for performing an angiogram:
• aneurysms - an area of a blood vessel that bulges or balloons out
• cerebral vascular disease, such as stroke or bleeding in the brain
• blood vessel malformations
• to diagnose problems not resolved by other tests.

Partly taken from www.sirweb.org