what is angiography of heart

Coronary angiography is a medical procedure that uses a special dye and X-rays to see how blood flows through the arteries in the heart. It is usually performed with cardiac catheterization, which is a procedure that measures pressures in the heart chambers. Before the test starts, the patient is given a mild sedative to help them relax, and an area of their body (usually the arm or groin) is cleaned and numbed with a local numbing medicine. Then, a thin hollow tube called a catheter is passed through an artery and carefully moved up into the heart, while X-ray images help the doctor position the catheter. During the procedure, a type of dye thats visible by an X-ray machine is injected into the blood vessels of the heart, and the X-ray machine rapidly takes a series of images (angiograms), offering a look at the blood vessels. The test is generally done to see if theres a restriction in blood flow going to the heart, and it can show blocked or narrowed blood vessels in the heart. Coronary angiography is most commonly performed to diagnose and examine the severity of coronary artery disease, which is caused by narrowing or blockage of the coronary arteries due to the formation of atherosclerotic plaques in the walls of these arteries, thus restricting blood flow to cardiac muscle. It can also help diagnose other heart conditions, such as heart defects, abnormal heart stress test results, and heart valve problems that require surgery.