CO2 power-assisted hand-held syringe: better visualization during diagnostic and interventional angiography

Recent technology has produced high-flow and large-lumen catheters as well as other angiographic accessories to enhance the visualization of the coronary arteries during diagnostic and percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA) procedures. In spite of these technological advances, there are still many cases in which the quality of the coronary angiography could be significantly improved. This paper reports on a clinical evaluation of a hand-held power syringe. The syringe offers the ability to power inject contrast safely and effectively during routine angiograms as well as through guiding catheters with the balloon catheter present during PTCA. At the same time, control of the injection is equal to that associated with manual syringes.