What To Expect During Coronary Angiography

During coronary angiography, you’re kept on your back and awake. That way, you can follow your doctor’s instructions during the test. You’ll be given medicine to help you relax. This medicine may make you sleepy.

Your doctor will numb the area where the small plastic tube (catheter) will enter the blood vessel through a small cut in the arm, groin (upper thigh), or neck. The doctor then threads the catheter through the vessel up to the opening of the coronary arteries. Special x-ray movies are taken of the catheter as it’s moved up into the heart. The movies help your doctor see where to position the tip of the catheter.

Your doctor will put a special dye in the catheter when it reaches the correct spot. This dye will flow through your coronary arteries and make them show up on an x ray. This x ray is called an angiogram. If the angiogram reveals blocked arteries, your doctor may use angioplasty to restore blood flow to your heart.

After your doctor completes the angiography, or the angiography and angioplasty, he or she will remove the catheter from your body. The opening left in the blood vessel will then be closed up and bandaged. A small sandbag or other type of weight may be put on top of the bandage to apply pressure. This will help prevent major bleeding from the site.

The animation below shows the process of coronary angiography. Click the "start" button to play the animation. Written and spoken explanations are provided with each frame. Use the buttons in the lower right corner to pause, restart, or replay the animation, or use the scroll bar below the buttons to move through the frames.

The animation shows the step-by-step process your doctor will follow to do a coronary angiography.