Complications with Outpatient Angiography and Interventional Procedures

Purpose: To prospectively identify the complications, and rates of complication, in outpatient angiography and interventional procedures. Methods: There were 1050 consecutive patients, 646 men and 404 women, aged 17–89 years, with a total of 1239 procedures studied in a 2-year period, 1997 to 1999. Results: There were 560 cases of aorto-femoral angiography, resulting in 124 complications (22%), with pain or hematoma in 110. There were 206 cases of neck and cerebral angiography, resulting in 51 complications (25%), with pain and hematoma in 34, transient ischemic attack in 2 and cerebrovascular accident in 1. There were 197 interventional procedures, with 177 being balloon dilatations, resulting in 68 complications (35%), with 2 having hematomas and 1 having hematoma/abscess requiring active treatment. There were 276 cases having various "other" procedures (e.g., renal angiography), resulting in 65 complications (24%), with pain and hematoma in 61. No procedure-related death occurred. Eighteen cases (1.5%) had significant complications, with contrast allergy in eight. Conclusion: Outpatient angiography and intervention are relatively safe, with low significant complication rates.