smoking coronary heart disease

If the doctor recommends a coronary angiogram someone in your vicinity, the first reaction is denial and acceptance. Some people also believe that each of these tests would inevitably go through the bypass surgery. Others believe that it is painful, prolonged hospital admission. But the truth is that it is a simple X-ray of the heart blood vessels, virtually painless and requires a short stay. Coronary angiogram is one of the most accurate tests in the diagnosis of coronary heart disease ( CAD). It is used to describe precisely the location and severity of CAD and is relatively safe. coronary angiogram is the "gold standard" for evaluation of CAD. The test is carried out in a special cardiac catheter laboratory as laboratory, the is similar to an operating room.

How is a coronary angiogram performed?

The procedure begins with the doctor inserting an intravenous line into a blood vessel in the patient's arm. Coronary angiography with the use of local anesthesia and is usually not very uncomfortable. During a coronary angiogram, a small catheter (a thin hollow tube with a diameter of 2-3 mm) is through the skin into an artery usually the wrist. Tours with the assistance of a fluoroscope the catheter is then advanced to the opening of the coronary arteries, the arteries, the blood to the heart. Next, a small amount of X-ray contrast, which is easily visualized with X-ray images, in each coronary artery. The images, produced when the angiogram.

The procedure takes about 10-15 minutes. After the procedure, the catheter is removed and the artery at the wrist with manual compression to prevent bleeding.

Risks and benefits

Coronary angiogram is the only test that allows precise quantification of the severity of CAD optimal choices for treatment. In appropriate patients, the therapeutic information from the angiogram is far more valuable than the relatively small risk of the procedure. It is a small but finite risk of serious complications of coronary angiography, as it is an "invasive" test, but in the hands of experienced physicians, the risk is very small (well under one percent). After the test, the patients are by their physician instructions relating to movement and effort to care for the cut and the use of medicines.

Long Term Outlook

The treatment depends on the diagnosis, after the angiography. Narrowed coronary arteries can be treated during the angiogram by angioplasty. Another option for severely narrowed coronary arteries is a bypass operation. Coronary angiogram, which is normal, is so precious as the disease shows. A normal angiogram Rules disease and a life is an impulse for the further continuation of a healthy lifestyle.