Angiography of the Head and Neck
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Angiogram of the head and neck is an X-ray test that uses fluoroscopy to take pictures of the blood flow within the blood vessels of the head and neck. A thin flexible tube called a catheter is placed into the femoral blood vessel (femoral artery) in the groin or just above the elbow (brachial artery) and guided to the head and neck area. Then a dye (contrast material) that contains iodine is injected into the vessel being studied to make it more visible on the X-ray pictures.
Angiogram of the neck (carotid angiogram) can be used to evaluate the large arteries in the neck that lead to the brain. Angiogram of the head (cerebral angiogram) can be used to evaluate veins or the four arteries (four-vessel study) supplying blood to the brain. Angiogram can detect a bulge in the wall of a blood vessel (aneurysm). It can also detect narrowing of a blood vessel or a blockage in a blood vessel that slows or prevents blood flow, an abnormal collection of vessels (arteriovenous malformation), or abnormal vessels supplying a tumor. The angiogram pictures can be produced on regular X-ray films or stored as digital images in a computer.
