subject: Angiography And Its Different Categories [print this page] Angiography can be called one of the greatest breakthroughs in medical science. Also known as arteriography, angiography involves an imaging technique. This is actually an xray study of blood vessels and organs of the body.
Special interest in this regard is given to the arteries, veins and the heart chambers. Angiography may further be divided into cerebral angiography, coronary angiography, pulmonary angiography, and kidney angiography depending on the area of performance.
Well so, how is angiography done? Well in a laymans language, it involves inserting a long wire called catheter towards the heart blindly. If the tip reaches the heart area, the expert pushes the tip in one of the coronary arteries. Then, he/she injects a radioactive dye in the hole in the catheter inside the coronary tubes and further fluoroscopy photographs are taken. This is repeated with another coronary tube and the same photos are taken.
In the pulmonary angiography procedure, the expert takes X-ray pictures of the pulmonary blood vessels (those in the lungs). It is also known as pulmonary arteriography. A patient who is about to have pulmonary angiography done should usually not eat or drink anything for 4 to 8 hours before the procedure.
Kidney angiography too is a similar procedure to look at the arteries that supply blood to the kidneys. Generally a kidney angiography is done to evaluate blood flow to the kidneys and guide in treatment choices.
Any problem of the veins in the brain is diagnosed using the cerebral angiography method. A similar angiography method is used to visualize the arterial and venous supply of the brain. Coronary angiography, as the name suggests, is related to the heart.
All patients undergoing angiography be it cerebral angiography, coronary angiography, pulmonary angiography, and kidney angiography should inform the doctor about any allergic reactions.
