Benefits of Angiography

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Angiography is a type of X-ray used to check blood vessels as blood vessels may not show clearly on a normal x-ray, so a special dye is injected into your blood. This causes your blood vessels to be highlighted, allowing your doctor to observe better. Angiography is used to check the health of your blood vessels and how blood flows through them.

Angiography helps to diagnose diseases of blood vessels, and provides information that helps determine the best treatment for your condition. Usually, angiography is used as a first step in the treatment of the medical problem. The exact benefits will vary for each individual person.

A specially trained team of medical staff carries out angiography. The team includes:

  •  a radiologist (specialist doctor) who will carry out the procedure,

  •  nursing staff and radiographers (medical imaging technologists) who operate the X-ray machine. 

  • If the angiography is being carried out as the first step of angioplasty, a vascular specialist doctor, who might be a surgeon, may carry out the procedure


Angiography is carried out in a specifically designed room called an angiography suite, which is similar to an operating theater. A special X-ray machine is used to take and record the images or angiograms. There are also machines to record your blood pressure, pulse rate and other vital signs.



Benefits

Heart and vascular CT angiography may eliminate the need for surgery. If surgery remains necessary, it can be performed more accurately.

  • Heart and vascular CT angiography can detect narrowing or obstruction of blood vessels allowing for potentially corrective therapy to be done.

  • CT angiography may give more precise anatomical detail than other imaging, particularly in small blood vessels.

  • Many patients can undergo heart and vascular CT angiography to diagnose blood vessel problems.

  • Heart and vascular CT angiography is faster, non-invasive and has fewer complications.

  • CT Angiography is a useful way of detecting arterial (such as narrowing of blood vessels in the heart) and venous disease, as well as structural abnormalities of the heart before there are symptoms or when symptoms are not clearly related to blood vessel disease.

  • There is also potentially less discomfort because contrast material is injected into an arm vein.

  • No radiation remains in a patient's body after heart and vascular CT angiography.

  • X-rays used in standard CT scans have no immediate side effects.

Risks

  • There is always a slight chance of cancer from excessive exposure to radiation. However, the benefit of an accurate diagnosis will generally outweigh the risk.

  • If you have a history of allergy to contrast material, your doctor may advise you to take special precautionary medication, such as a steroid, for a few hours or the day before CT angiography to lessen the chances of an allergic reaction. Another option is to undergo a different exam that does not require iodinated contrast material injection such as MRI.

  • In patients who are at risk for kidney failure and who already have borderline kidney functions; administering iodinated contrast material could potentially further damage kidney functions.

  • Women should always inform their SMIL radiologist if there is any possibility that they are pregnant.

  • There is possible risk of serious allergic reaction to contrast materials that contain iodine, but this is extremely rare



Accounting for thorough experience and practice, Dr. Aritra Konar is a Consultant Interventional Cardiologist at Apollo Gleneagles Hospital and he is one of the best-known cardiologists in Kolkata.  His expertise lies in Coronary (femoral & radial routes) angiography, Coronary angioplasty (including primary angioplasty), Peripheral angiography and angioplasty, BMV, BPV, Right heart catheterization, and so on, in procedural skills. His guidance is trusted and so are his skills.

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