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Last updated: 11/24/2009
Angiography is used to detect abnormalities, including narrowing (stenosis) or blockages in the blood vessels (called occlusions) throughout the circulatory system and in some organs. The procedure is commonly used to identify atherosclerosis; to diagnose...
heart disease; to evaluate kidney function and detect kidney cysts or tumors; to map renal anatomy in transplant donors; to detect an aneurysm (an abnormal bulge of an artery that can rupture leading to hemorrhage), tumor, blood clot, or arteriovenous malformations (abnormal tangles of arteries and veins) in the brain; and to diagnose problems with the retina of the eye. It is also used to provide surgeons with an accurate vascular "map" of the heart prior to open-heart surgery, or of the brain prior to neurosurgery. Angiography may be used after penetrating trauma, like a gunshot or knife wound, to detect blood vessel injury; it may be used to check the position of shunts and stents placed by physicians into blood vessels.
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This video describes how the circulatory system works, how disease can affect blood vessels (atherosclerosis), and how doctors use angiography to test for coronary artery blockage.
X ray showing a brain aneurism (to the right of the midline). (CNRI/National Audubon Society Collection/Photo Researchers, Inc. Reproduced by permission.)
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Angiography or arteriography is a medical imaging technique to visualize the inside, or lumen, of blood vessels and organs of the body, with particular interest in the arteries, veins and the heart chambers. This is traditionally done by injecting a radio-opaque contrast agent into the blood vessel and imaging using X-ray based techniques such as fluoroscopy. The film or image of the blood vessels is called an angiograph, or more commonly, an angiogram.
Its name comes from the Greek words angeion, "vessel", and graphein, "to write or record".
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Heart surgery is quite a big event and people are keen to know about their particular surgeon.
-Andy Owens
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