Is coronary angiography painful?

Coronary angiography is an auxiliary means of treating diseases. It brings good news to patients. There is no need to worry too much about the risks of coronary angiography, because coronary angiography is already a very mature treatment method in modern medicine. During angiography, the patient will feel slight pain from local anesthesia, which is tolerable.

Coronary angiography should be no problem in a regular large hospital. It involves puncturing a special catheter through the femoral artery in the thigh or the radial artery in the upper limb and inserting it into the opening of the coronary artery. Contrast agent is selectively injected into the coronary artery and the development process is recorded to determine whether there is any lesion in the coronary artery. After the operation, patients need to lie flat for 18-24 hours. Some patients may feel back pain and discomfort, but the symptoms will disappear after getting up and moving around. No matter what surgery, complications may occur, so patients are required to sign the formalities before the operation. The incidence of complications of coronary angiography is 0.2%~0.9%, mainly:

(1) Arrhythmia.

(2) Local bleeding, hematoma, pseudoaneurysm and arteriovenous fistula, etc.

(3) Acute myocardial infarction.

(4) Contrast agent allergy. Most of the above mentioned cases will not cause serious consequences. The complication rate is extremely low for skilled operators. In short, radial artery angiography is a surgery with extremely low risk, relatively safe and almost painless. Many hospitals can now perform radial artery angiography. Patients who undergo coronary intervention via the radial artery have the arterial sheath removed immediately after the surgery. The radial artery is compressed for 4-10 minutes and fixed with pressure for 3-6 hours. Patients can walk freely immediately after the surgery. In foreign countries, such patients do not need to be hospitalized if stents are not placed.