Why is it Done?
Heart is a muscular pump whose primary job is to pump blood throughout your body. It expands and contracts roughly 70 times per minute. Approximately 5 liters of blood is pumped into our arteries every minute. When we are under physical or mental stress, heart has to function harder to cope with the increased demand of blood (up to 40 liters per minute). Like any other organ heart needs oxygenated blood to function. Coronary arteries are the vessels, which supply blood to the heart muscle. They are three in number and run on the surface of heart. The left main Coronary Artery divides into two branches - the Left Anterior Descending (LAD) and Left Circumflex (LCx) Artery. They supply the blood to the front, left side and back of heart. The Right Coronary Artery (RCA) supplies blood to the bottom and right side of heartCoronary Artery Disease is narrowing of the coronary vessels thus affecting supply of blood to the heart. There are several conditions in which the occurrence of the coronary artery disease is found to be more common. Some of these conditions are smoking, diabetes, high blood pressure, hyperlipidemia (increased fat in blood), obesity, lack of exercise, stressful life and family history of coronary artery disease or simply ageing. A plaque starts getting deposited in the inner walls of the coronary arteries leading to partial or full blockage of the arteries. The blood flow does not remain normal and this leads to chest pain (angina). If it is not treated promptly, a heart attack (myocardial infarction) may result. Incidences of Coronary Artery Disease have become more frequent even in the middle and young age group, more so in Indian subcontinent.Cardiologist will diagnose CAD on the basis of symptoms, ECG, stress testing (TMT), exercise thallium scan or stress echocardiography, and finally coronary angiography. Angiography till date remains the gold standard for diagnosis and decision making for further management of the coronary artery disease. One determines following information by way of angiography:

• Presence, location, severity and the extent of blockages·Angiography is performed under local anesthesia.
• Status of weakness of heart muscles after the heart attack.
• Measurement of chamber pressures if required.
• Status of valve function.