Indications and value of coronary arteriography.

D URING THE PAST decade, significant improvements have evolved in our approach to the problems of the patient with coronary heart disease. The fundamental reason for these changes has been the establishment of an improved basic standard of diagnosis, selective coronary arteriography. At this point in time, selective coronary arteriography has been generally accepted as a useful technic for demonstrating the morphologic characteristics of the coronary arteries in patients with suspected or known coronary atherosclerosis. More than 13 years have passed since the first selective coronary arteriogram was performed in the spring of 1959, by deliberately passing a specially designed cardiac catheter into the orifices of each coronary artery and opacifying them with small doses of contrast media. Passage of the media through the vessels was recorded on 35-mm motion-picture film at a rate of 60 frames/sec utilizing the intensified image produced by a 12.7-cm (5-inch) fluoroscopic