Prevention and Treatment of Complications Following Arteriography

For the past decade, vascular roentgenology has been the fastest-expanding subspecialty of diagnostic radiology. Because of its definition and the need for the information it furnishes in the growing field of vascular surgery, a further and even more rapid expansion is anticipated. Like any other operative procedure, arteriography can cause certain complications, and the endorsement of a diagnostic procedure for widespread use can be given only after its benefits, in particular the information derived from it, are weighed against its risks of complications (1, 5, 6, 12, 14, 15, 17, 20, 21). In 1962 a nationwide survey with tabulation of the complications of percutaneous retrograde arteriography established a then-acceptable rate of complications attributed to this procedure (17). A critical analysis of these data focused our attention on certain obvious causes of complications, which have since been corrected and eliminated. By definition, all complications occurring within forty-eight hours of a vascular...