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Coronary angiography - Risks

Alternative Names

Cardiac angiography; Angiography - heart; Angiogram - coronary

What the risks are:

Cardiac catheterization carries a slightly increased risk when compared with other heart tests. However, the test is very safe when performed by an experienced team.

Generally the risk of serious complications ranges from 1 in 1,000 to 1 in 500. Risks of the procedure include the following:

Cardiac tamponade
Irregular heart beats
Injury to the coronary artery
Low blood pressure
Allergic reaction to contrast dye
Stroke
Heart attack

Considerations associated with any type of catheterization include the following:

In general, there is a risk of bleeding, infection, and pain at the IV site.
There is always a very small risk that the soft plastic catheters could actually damage the blood vessels.
Blood clots could form on the catheters and later block blood vessels elsewhere in the body.
The contrast dye could damage the kidneys (particularly in patients with diabetes).

Special considerations:

If a blockage is found, your health care provider may perform a percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) to open the blockage. This can be done during the same procedure, but may be delayed for various reasons.

Cardiac catheterization

Coronary angiography

Reviewed last on: 5/23/2011
David Zieve, MD, MHA, Medical Director, A.D.A.M., Inc., and Michael A. Chen, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor of Medicine, Division of Cardiology, Harborview Medical Center, University of Washington Medical School, Seattle, Washington.

References

Fraker TD Jr, Fihn SD, Gibbons RJ, Abrams J, Chatterjee K, Daley J et al. 2007 chronic angina focused update of the ACC/AHA 2002 Guidelines for the management of patients with chronic stable angina: a report of the American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association Task Force on Practice Guidelines Writing Group to develop the focused update of the 2002 Guidelines for the management of patients with chronic stable angina. Circulation. 2007;116:2762-2772.

Davidson CJ, Bonow RO. Cardiac catheterization. In: Libby P, Bonow RO, Mann DL, Zipes DP, eds. Braunwald's Heart Disease: A Textbook of Cardiovascular Medicine. 8th ed. Philadelphia, Pa: Saunders Elsevier; 2007:chap 19.

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