Catheter Angiography at Sky Ridge Medical Center
Angiography is a minimally invasive medical test that produces pictures of major blood vessels throughout the body.
In catheter angiography, a thin tube (catheter) is inserted into an artery through a small incision in the skin. Once the catheter is guided to the area being examined, a contrast material is injected through the tube and images are captured using a small dose of ionizing radiation (X-rays).
Common Uses of Catheter Angiography
Catheter angiography is used to examine blood vessels in key areas of the body, including the:
- Abdomen
- Brain
- Heart
- Kidneys
- Pelvis
- Legs
- Lungs
- Neck
Doctors use the procedure to:
- Identify disease and aneurysms in the aorta, both in the chest and abdomen, or in other major blood vessels.
- Detect atherosclerosis disease in the carotid artery of the neck, which may limit blood flow to the brain and cause a stroke.
- Identify a small aneurysm or arteriovenous malformation inside the brain.
- Detect atherosclerotic disease that has narrowed the arteries to the legs and help prepare for endovascular intervention or surgery.
- Detect disease in the arteries to the kidneys or visualize blood flow to help prepare for a kidney transplant.
- Guide interventional radiologists and surgeons making repairs to diseased blood vessels, such as implanting stents or evaluating a stent after implantation.
- Detect injury to one of more arteries in the neck, chest, abdomen, pelvis or extremities in trauma patients.
- Evaluate arteries feeding a tumor prior to surgery or other procedures such as chemoembolization or selective internal radiation therapy.
- Identify dissection or splitting in the aorta in the chest or abdomen or its major branches.
- Show the extent and severity of atherosclerosis in the coronary arteries and plan for a surgical operation, such as a coronary bypass and stenting.
- Sample blood from specific veins in the body to detect any endocrine disease.
- Examine pulmonary arteries in the lungs to detect pulmonary embolism (blood clots from leg veins).
