Angiography

What is angiography?

Angiography is a procedure that allows your doctor to take a picture or image (called an angiogram) of your blood vessels in order to diagnose a variety of diseases and conditions of blood vessels. Doctors use angiography to help study blood vessels that are obstructed, blocked, narrowed, enlarged or malformed, and identify the underlying cause. Angiography is used to examine blood vessels located in a variety of body parts, including your abdomen, brain, heart, kidneys, lungs and legs.

Your body has two types of blood vessels, arteries and veins. When angiography is used to examine arteries, the picture is called an arteriogram. When veins are being examined, the picture is called a venogram.

Angiography is only one method to diagnose a variety of vascular diseases and conditions. You should discuss different screening options with your doctor or healthcare provider to best understand which option is right for you.

Types of angiography

The types of angiography procedures include:

• Catheter angiography is a procedure that involves inserting a catheter into a blood vessel in your groin or elbow. The catheter wire is then fed, or guided to the area to be examined. X-rays are used to produce the angiogram, or picture of the vessel.
• Noninvasive angiography uses computed tomography (CT), ultrasound, or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to produce the angiogram. MRI of blood vessels is also called magnetic resonance angiography, or MRA. CT involves X-rays but MRA and ultrasound do not.

Catheter angiography, and in some cases, noninvasive angiography, use a contrast agent, sometimes called a dye. This is given to you intravenously (through an IV). The contrast agent greatly improves the quality of the image produced.

Other procedures that may be performed

In addition to angiography, your doctor may also recommend one or more additional procedures to diagnose or treat certain conditions. The following procedures may be performed during a catheter angiography procedure:

• Angioplasty to widen a narrowed or blocked vessel
• Blood clot removal by injecting clot-dissolving medications into the vessel via the catheter
• Stent placement with a mesh tube, which is permanently inserted into the vessel to keep the vessel open

Because noninvasive angiography techniques do not use a catheter, these procedures cannot be performed during the actual angiography, but may be recommended as additional treatment.

Why is angiography performed?

Your doctor may recommend angiography to diagnose and possibly treat a variety of diseases and conditions of the blood vessels including:

• Aneurysms, which are weakened or diseased areas of a blood vessel that become enlarged or bulge. Aneurysms can occur in many different areas of the body and can lead to serious or life-threatening bleeding if they rupture or burst.
• Aortic conditions, such as aortic dissection, which is a tear or damage to the inner wall of the aorta. Your aorta is the main artery leaving your heart.
• Atherosclerosis, which is a buildup of plaque on the walls of large and medium-sized arteries. Atherosclerosis is commonly known as hardening of the arteries.
• Bleeding from the gastrointestinal tract. Angiography may identify and treat the bleeding source.
• Blood clots, such as deep vein thrombosis (DVT) in your legs or pulmonary embolism (PE) in your lungs.
• Blood vessel malformations, which are usually present at birth, but may become a problem at various ages from birth to adulthood
• Carotid artery disease, which affects the arteries in your neck that supply blood to the brain
• Cerebral vascular disease, including stroke and transient ischemic attacks (TIAs)
• Heart disease, including coronary artery disease
• Mesenteric artery ischemia, which is decreased blood flow through the arteries that supply your small and large intestines
• Peripheral artery disease (PAD), also called peripheral vascular disease, or PVD, which is a narrowing or blockage of arteries outside the heart
• Renal artery stenosis, a narrowing of the arteries that supply your kidneys