What is an Angiography?
Vascular / interventional techniques, Angiography allows doctors to see inside the body’s blood vessels by introducing a very thin tube (catheter), injecting a contrast into the tube, and then taking X–rays. This is useful for finding various irregularities or blockages which can affect the heart and other organs.
• MR Angiography (Blood Vessels) MRA is a very useful way to detect problems with blood vessels and is an aid in determining how to best treat those problems.. If an ultrasound study shows that such disease is present, many surgeons will now do the necessary operation after confirmation by MRA, dispensing with the need for catheter angiography. MRA has also found wide use in evaluating patients for disease in the arteries of the brain, so that only those with positive findings will need to have a more invasive catheter study. MRA also is used to detect disease in the aorta and in blood vessels supplying the kidneys, lungs and legs. Patients with a family history of aneurysm, a ballooning out of a segment of the vessel wall, can be screened by MRA to detect an aneurysm that has not produced symptoms. If an aneurysm is found, it may be treated surgically, possibly avoiding serious or fatal bleeding. • CT Angiography CT (Computed Tomography) Angiography (CTA) is an examination that uses x
A carotid angiography is an outpatient procedure that helps find problems in blood vessels leading to your brain. These vessels include carotid arteries, which supply your brain with blood. The procedure makes a map of your blood vessels. This map can show narrowing in your arteries. Narrowing can cause numbness, weakness, trouble with speech, or changes in vision. Theses symptoms may be warning signs of a stroke. A peripheral angiography is an outpatient procedure that helps find blood vessel problems in your lower body and legs. It makes a map of the arteries that carry blood through your body. This map can show where blood flow may be blocked. Blockages can cause painful leg cramps while walking. They can also keep foot wounds from healing.
An angiography is a remarkable type of procedure that allows doctors to use an X-ray camera outside your body to see how blood circulates within the vessels of your legs. This is accomplished with only one small incision, at the very top of your leg. Through this incision, a very small tube – a catheter — is threaded to where the problem seems to be. There, X-ray dye is released, which your doctor will watch on special television monitors. If the X-ray dye does not reach areas that it should, that means that your blood also isn’t reaching those areas. Depending on circumstances, your doctor may feed medications through the tube directly to the spot, or he may even expand a miniature balloon in the area of the blockage, to push back the buildup and help your blood circulate properly again. All this is accomplished through a cut so small that it typically does not even need one stitch to heal properly. Before Your Angiography: Although an angiography is not surgery, there are a few guid
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 perforemd 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 ve
