Angiography Devices

man wearing surgical suit near mirror_ed

Along the walls of a typical angiography suite, you will find a plethora of different angiography devices used in Angiography & Intervention - from catheters, to wires, to embolic particles, and to stents and angioplasty balloons. There are also an array of different manufacturers and medical device companies offering these products that will eventually help our patients.

This section will help you improve your knowledge about the variety of angiography devices available in an interventional angiography suite, cardiac catheter lab, or hybrid theatre.

French Catheter Scale

Common Angiography Devices

Catheters

Made in different French sizes, lengths (cm) and tip shapes. Used to navigate through vessels or cavities.

Guidewires

Used to navigate through vessels or cavities, and can act as anchors for support and maintain access. Made in different lengths, sizes (inches), and properties (glide, stiff, soft).

Vascular Sheaths

Used as conduit for other devices to be inserted into the system. Haemostatic valve and sidearm for aspiration or injection. Made in different lengths (cm) and sizes (F). Includes a dilator.

Angioplasty Balloons

Made in different diameters (mm), lengths (mm), and delivery wires (0.014", 0.018", 0.035"), and systems (mm). Used to open up areas of stenosis. Can be drug-eluting.

Stents

Acts as a scaffold to open up a blocked or stenotic region or vessel. Can be covered, uncovered, drug-eluting, self-expandable, or balloon-expandable.

Embolic Particles

Different sized particles used to embolize vessels or cavities to block the blood supply and cause cell death.

I did not think; I experimented.

- Wilhelm Röntgen