What the risks are:

Risks associated with this procedure include:

• Abnormal heartbeats (arrhythmias)
• Allergic reaction to dye
• Artery damage
• Cardiac tamponade
• Embolism from blood clots at the tip of the catheter
• Heart failure due to the volume of the dye
• Infection
• Kidney failure from the dye
• Low blood pressure
• Heart attack
• Hemorrhage
• Stroke

Special considerations:

Right heart catheterization may be combined with this procedure.

Left heart ventricular angiography has some risk because it is an invasive procedure. Other imaging techniques may carry less risk, such as:

• CT scans
• Echocardiography
• Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the heart
• Radionuclide ventriculography

Your health care provider may decide to perform one of these procedures instead of left heart ventricular angiography.