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You are in: Home > Heart Information > Tests > Angiogram

Angiogram

An angiogram is an x–ray examination of the heart (also called cardiac catheterisation) which is used to assess damage to the coronary arteries.

A catheter (tube) is inserted, under local anaesthetic, into a main artery in the upper leg or lower arm and then passed gently into the aorta (the large artery which supplies the heart muscle with its own blood supply).

A dye is then injected which fills the blood vessels of the heart (coronary arteries) and an x–ray picture is taken.

This picture can then be studied to assess which arteries are blocked and how severe the blockages are.

You cannot feel the catheter in the heart but some people experience a 'hot flush' when the dye is injected.

Interventions to treat a blockage can sometimes be performed at the same time as an angiogram. This is called percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), or angioplasty.

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