Side effects of angiography

I suffered Heart attack in 2005 and stent has been placed in artery. I am normal now  on medication and regular chekups. Is it advisable to go for angiography check up  as six years have passed post surgery? Are there any side effects after angiography? My physician has recommended Angiography check up as life of stent is normally 10 years .I shall be pleased to receive your recommendation and advise.

[ed34]

Although I am not a Doctor, I think that I disagree with your Doctor. There is no fixed rule for how long a stent will last, none whatsoever. It's like a bypass, they will tell you that 10-20 years is the expected life of the grafts, but what about the ones which last days, weeks or just months. It's the same with stents. They can last days, weeks, months or the rest of your natural life. You need to listen to your body and if you feel any kind of new symptoms, such as shortness of breath, chest discomfort, throat discomfort, lower jaw ache etc and report them immediately to your Doctor. Another reason this is important is that you can obviously develop NEW blockages. I had 6 stents by last christmas and reported chest pains (Mild) to my Doctor and I knew something was going wrong. As usual I was booked for an Angiogram, but due to not being an emergency I was on the bottom of the list. By the start of March 2011 it was too late, I had a bad heart attack due to 2 new blockages.
I had been through a very stressful time and I know that the symptoms coincided with that time. Trust your body, it will tell you when something is wrong.

[curmudgen]

adding to ed34's post - if you were to consider any "check-up' of your stents I would suggest a CAT scan with contrast - non-invasive, less risk and takes 15 minutes.  my 2 cents.

[Sansut]

Thanks for your comments and advise. I do not have  any sort of discomfort, chest pain, or any other symptoms  and daily I climb two floors of my office . I  feel normal .As informed by you that there could be new blockages so on that basis doctor could have suggested angiography to see  any developments. But doctor would not have mentioned to me  that he wants to check about new  blockages  as sometimes patient get panic or may feel upset and  go under stress. Doctor has advised it as a routine check up , its not at all emergency .Evey year I even check up TMT , which is normal.
As you mentioned about symptoms , I got symptom of discomfort  in throat just 30 minutes before Heart Attack, but I felt it could be only due to some food, oil consumed in preparation of food.This sort of discomfort was total different which I feel it after consuming some oil based food, but I could not realize the  difference as I drank 2/3 glasses of water
immediately. I realized only when I perspire a lot and my pressure dropped drastically at lower levels.
I am surprised to read that  you have 6 stents at a stretch!!!!!!!!!!!! You have to be very very careful about diet  and excercise. Regarding food my Doctor always say " Have sample Not Ample". I follow his rule now too. Take Care and  thanks again.

[Sansut]

Thank you very much for the suggession for CAT Scan instead of angiography. I shall discuss with my Doctor  too . It is his suggession only and could be done whenever I want to do.
So will also consult other Doctors too. My sister is not a Heart Patient but as she felt some breathlessness, she went for Angiography.All her reports of Heart, Kidney, Lever are NORMAL.She is a Diabetic patient . But she  is suffering from soars on her legs and  pains when she walks. This is only after Angiography done. Is it possible that post Angiography this could happen?

[ed34]

Sounds like it could be vascular disease in the legs, so it's best to mention it to a Doctor to find out. Tests should be run because she doesn't want to end up with lots of dead tissue in her legs. IF it was caused by the Angio, it is much more likely it would affect the leg which had the incision, not the other one. Are they definitely sores and not bruising? If the sores don't seem to heal, then I would see a Doctor immediately.