<unk>  can be used to examine blood vessels in many key areas of the body including the brain, kidneys, pelvis, and the lungs. Coronary<unk>  Coronary<unk>  (CCTA) is the use of<unk>  to assess the arteries of the heart. The patient receives an intravenous injection of contrast and then the heart is scanned using a high speed CT scanner. With the advances in CT technology, patients are typically able to be scanned without needing medicines by simply holding their breath during the scan.<unk>  is used to assess heart or vessel irregularities, location of stents and whether they are still open, and occasionally to check for atherosclerotic disease. This method displays the anatomical detail of blood vessels more precisely than magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) or ultrasound. Today, many patients can undergo<unk>  in place of a conventional catheter angiogram, a minor procedure during which a catheter is passed through the blood vessels all the way to the heart. However, CCTA has not fully replaced this procedure. CCTA is able to detect narrowing of blood vessels in time for corrective therapy to be done. CCTA is a useful way of screening for arterial disease because it is safer, much less time-consuming than catheter angiography, and is also a cost-effective procedure. Aorta and great arteries<unk>  can be used in the chest and abdomen to identify aneurysms in the aorta or other major blood vessels. These areas of weakened blood vessel walls that bulge out can life-threatening if they rupture.<unk>  is the test of choice when assessing aneurysm before and after endovascular stenting due to the ability to detect calcium within the wall. Another positive of<unk>  in abdominal aortic aneurysm assessment is that it allows for better estimation of blood vessel dilation and can better detect blood clots compared to standard angiography.<unk>  is used also to identify arterial dissection, including aortic dissection in the aorta or its major branches. Arterial dissection is when the layers of the artery wall peel away from each other; this causes pain and can be life-threatening.<unk>  is a quick and non-invasive method of identifying dissections and can show the extent of the disease and if there is leakage. Pulmonary arteries CT pulmonary angiogram (CTPA) is used to examine the pulmonary arteries in the lungs, most commonly to rule out pulmonary embolism (PE), a serious but treatable condition. It has become the technique of choice for detection of pulmonary embolism due to its wide availability, short exam time, ability to see other diseases that may present like pulmonary embolisms, and a high degree of confidence in the validity of the test. In this test, a PE will appear as a dark spot inside the blood vessel or a sudden stop of the bright contrast material.<unk>  should not be used to evaluate for pulmonary embolism when other tests indicate that there is a low probability of a person having this condition. A D-dimer assay might be a preferred alternative to test for pulmonary embolism, and that test and a low clinical prediction score on the Wells test or Geneva score can exclude pulmonary embolism as a possibility. Renal arteries Volume rendered<unk>  of renal arteries in patient with medial fibromuscular dysplasia. Visualization of blood flow in the renal arteries (those supplying the kidneys) in patients with high blood pressure and those suspected of having kidney disorders can be performed using<unk> . Stenosis (narrowing) of a renal artery is a cause of hypertension (high blood pressure) in some patients and can be corrected. A special<unk> ized method of viewing the images makes renal<unk>  a very accurate examination.<unk>  is also used in the assessment of native and transplant renal arteries. While<unk>  is great for imaging of the kidneys, it lacks the ability to perform procedures at the same time. Thus traditional catheter angiography is used in cases of acute renal hemorrhage or acute arterial obstruction. Carotid, vertebral and intracranial vessels<unk>  of a vascular malformation with intraventricular hemorrhage.<unk>  can be used assess acute stroke patients by identifying clots in the arteries of the brain. It can also be used to identify small aneurysms or arteriovenous malformation inside the brain that can be life-threatening. While<unk>  can produce high quality images of the carotid arteries for grading the level of stenosis (narrowing of the vessel), calcium deposits (calcified plaques) in the area where the vessels split can lead to interference with accurate stenosis grading. Because of this, magnetic resonance angiography is used more often for this purpose. Peripheral arteries<unk>  can be used in the legs to detect atherosclerotic disease that has narrowed the arteries. It can also be used to image vessels in suspected blockages, trauma cases, or patients with surgical complications.
Computed tomography angiography
Radionuclide angiography
Magnetic resonance angiography
Microangiography
Angiography
Carbon dioxide angiography
Digital subtraction angiography
Digital variance angiography