Angiography is a medical technique in which still images or moving images are taken to visualize the blood filled areas of the body. These areas include various veins or arteries located throughout the body as well as the chambers of the heart. The term Angiography is derived from the Greek words for ‘vessel’ and ‘ to record’. The modern techniques used to produce an angiogram have developed over the last 100 years. In most cases, the individual procedures needed to produce a modern angiogram were developed first for other purposes.
From the very day that X-rays were first used for medical purposes, scientiest were trying to use them to examine the heart. Near the turn of the century, scientists in Europe were already experimenting with ways to examine the heart using radiography. Some of the more notable names in this new field include Doctors Rosenthal and Ciegem, who independently developed procedures where the heart could be seen on X-rays. Although the procedures introduced by these pioneers were notable scientific advances, they were not practical on living patients.
In 1927, neurologist Egas Moniz of Portugal developed a technique for a contrasted x-ray of the brain, called a cerebral angiography. He later won the Nobel Prize for medicine in 1949. His technique was used to diagnose several diseases of the nervous system.
Another major step in the advancement toward modern angiography came in 1929 when Forsemann made the first attempt at cardiac catheterization with an angiograph. Cardiac cauterisation is where a tube is inserted directly into the arteries surrounding the heart, and a substance is put into the blood which contrasts with the tissue of the heart. Blood flow in the vessels surrounding the heart can then easily be seen. This procedure continued to develop throughout the next 10 years through the work of Reboul and Rousthoi. A major development came in 1941, when Dr. Cournand performed the procedure on a healthy human male.
In 1953, a final major milestone was reached when Seldinger developed his percutaneous technique for cardiac catheterization. Using this technique, the catheter is introduced into the body at a remote site, usually the femoral artery and the wire is threaded up the arterial system to the heart where the dye is introduced. This procedure is still used today and makes getting an angiogram much safer as no sharp object needs to be introduced near the heart nor does it need to remain inside any vessel.
