How is coronary angiography performed? ct coronary angiography examination

What is coronary angiography? Coronary angiography is a procedure in which a special catheter is inserted into the coronary artery opening via a puncture in the femoral artery in the thigh or the radial artery in the upper limb. Contrast agent is selectively injected into the coronary artery and the development process is recorded to determine whether there is any lesion in the coronary artery. Coronary angiography is a means of treating heart disease. Modern technology is very mature, so there is no need to be afraid.

How to do a coronary angiography is as follows:

Coronary angiography is a minimally invasive examination. During the angiography, a small amount of anesthetic is usually injected into the right groin or right wrist first. At this time, there will be slight local pain, similar to intravenous injection. Afterwards, the doctor will make a very small (about 2mm) incision locally (since anesthetic has been injected, it will generally not hurt). During the puncture and insertion of the arterial sheath, some patients may experience slight pain or distension. Since there is no pain nerve supply in the blood vessels, patients generally do not feel any special sensation during the insertion of the angiographic catheter into the coronary artery opening and during the catheter operation. Some patients may experience a transient slight warming sensation in the chest during the injection of contrast agent. The arterial sheath was removed immediately after the operation, and the radial artery was compressed for 4-10 minutes and fixed with pressure for 3-6 hours. Patients can move around freely immediately after surgery.

Currently, coronary angiography is a commonly used and effective method for diagnosing coronary atherosclerotic heart disease (CHD). Selective coronary angiography is the use of an angiography machine to percutaneously puncture a specially designed cardiac catheter into the femoral artery of the lower limb, go back along the descending aorta to the root of the ascending aorta, then find the left or right coronary artery orifice, insert it, and inject contrast agent to make the coronary artery visible. In this way, the entire left or right coronary artery trunk and its branches can be clearly displayed, so that it can be understood whether there are stenosis lesions in the blood vessels, and a clear diagnosis can be made on the location, range, severity, condition of the lesions, etc., to decide on the treatment plan (intervention, surgery or medical treatment), and it can also be used to judge the efficacy. This is a relatively safe and reliable invasive diagnostic technology that is now widely used in clinical practice and is considered the "gold standard" for diagnosing coronary heart disease.

In recent years, as intracoronary ultrasound imaging (IVUS) and optical coherence tomography (OCT) have been gradually applied in clinical practice, it has been found that some blood vessel segments that appear normal in coronary angiography have intimal thickening or plaques. However, since IVUS and other examinations are relatively expensive and complicated to operate, they are not currently a routine examination method. Coronary angiography is a very safe surgical procedure. It currently ranks first in the United States in terms of surgical volume, with an average surgical mortality rate of less than 0.1%.