What is Angiography?

Angiography or arteriography is a medical imaging technique used to visualize the inside, or lumen, of blood vessels and organs of the body, with particular interest in the arteries, veins and the heart chambers. This is traditionally done by injecting a radio-opaque contrast agent into the blood vessel and imaging using x-ray based techniques, such as fluoroscopy. The word itself comes from the Greek words angeion, "vessel", and graphein, "to write or record". The film or image of the blood vessels is called an angiograph, or more commonly, an angiogram.

Although the term angiography is strictly defined as based on projectional radiography, the term has been applied to newer vascular imaging techniques, such as CT (computed tomography) angiography and MR (magnetic resonance) angiography.

Interventional Radiology (abbreviated IR or sometimes VIR for vascular and interventional radiology) is a subspecialty of Radiology in which minimally invasive procedures are performed using image guidance. Some of these procedures are done for purely diagnostic purposes (e.g., angiogram), while others are done for treatment purposes (e.g., angioplasty). Pictures (images) are used to direct these procedures, which are usually done with needles or other tiny instruments like small tubes called catheters. The images provide road maps that allow the Interventional Radiologist to guide these instruments through the body to the areas of interest.