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Aortic angiography

• Overview
• Risks

Alternative Names:

Angiography - aorta; Aortography

What the risks are:

Risks of aortic angiography include cardiac arrhythmias , cardiac tamponade , trauma to the artery, low blood pressure, infection, embolism from a blood clot at the tip of the catheter, reaction to contrast media, hemorrhage (profuse bleeding), stroke , and heart attack .

At the puncture site into the artery, there are risks of bruising, bleeding, infection, aneurysm (bulging) of the vessel, occlusion (blocking) of the vessel, and fistula formation (a connection between an artery and vein).

Special considerations:

This procedure may be combined with a left heart catheterization to image the chambers of the heart.

Aortic angiography has been mostly replaced by computed tomography (CT) or magnetic resonance (MR) angiography.

• Review Date: 1/24/2007
• Reviewed By: Stuart Bentley-Hibbert, M.D., Ph.D., Department of Radiology, Weill Cornell Medical Center, New York, NY. Review provided by VeriMed Healthcare Network.

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