Fifty-five thousand cerebral angiographies

A large series of patients submitted to cerebral angiography at the Bellaria Hospital in Bologna are presented in a preliminary report. Experience gained is discussed from the standpoints of success versus failure and of the complications. It is concluded that direct percutaneous cerebral angiography, if used selectively, still has a role to fill in a modern neuroradiology department, because of its safety. It is especially well suited for the examination of older patients. For angiography of the external carotid and the vertebral artery femoral catheterization is more suitable.