Poorva Chavan
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Written By: Poorva Chavan | Updated : September 30, 2015 1:51 PM IST
Many patients with cardiovascular diseases are asked to undergo an angiography. It is a procedure that identifies the number of blockages in your coronary arteries and assess the severity of your heart disease. It helps doctors decide on the further line of treatment.
Who needs an angiography and can everyone undergo it?
Dr Alok Chopra, joint managing director, Fortis Aashlok, says that it is performed on people who have coronary artery disease and can be successfully performed on children as well as the elderly. In infants and children, it is usually performed to identify any congenital heart disease or valve problems. However, it cannot be performed on people with weak hearts and poor blood pumping capacity or kidney disease. You may like to read about what to expect during an angiography.
How safe is it?
Angiography is an invasive procedure and the risk associated with it is as small as 1%. However, there are a few risks like:
1. An allergy to the dye that causes urticaria or angioedema (swelling of the windpipe that can choke the patient).
2. Flaring up of asthma.
3. At times, an angiography may need extra fluid administration, and a fluid overload may cause congestive heart failure. Vomiting might also occur, harming the lungs.
4. Bleeding and local blood collection at the site of injection.
5. Sometimes, the dye can cause serious problems to the kidney and the patient might have to undergo dialysis too.
But, Dr Alok Chopra says that the non-ionic dyes used nowadays are very safe and with all modern techniques and safety measures in place, angiography is a relatively safe procedure. If you have a pre-existing kidney disease, diabetes or asthma and are allergic to chemicals, it is important that you inform your doctor about them. Is angioplasty safe for the elderly? Find out.
Alternatives to an angiography
According to Dr Alok Chopra properly conducted exercise-induced stress tests, when conducted with echocardiography or thallium are non-invasive and are 95% accurate.
Image source: Getty Images
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