Intravenous angiography for extracranial disease

The preliminary results of our experience with intravenous angiography for visualization of the aortic arch, carotid and vertebral arteries in the neck is presented. This procedure is safe, can be done as an outpatient study, and is felt to surpass all other methods of evaluating the great vessels in the neck, short of cerebral arteriography. The study utilizes a simple photographic subtraction technique, gives images comparable to those produced with digital angiography, and can be performed in any hospital angiographic suite. We believe that intravenous angiography will largely replace all other noninvasive methods for evaluating patients suspected of having carotid or vertebral vascular disease.