Neurological complications of cerebral angiography

We report a prospective study of 218 consecutive patients undergoing cerebral diagnostical angiography, before during and 24 hours after the procedure, to identify the neurological complication rate and the risk factors related to the patients and to the procedure. We observed 15 neurologic accidents (6.9%) with permanent sequelae in one case (0.4%). Two risk factors proved to correlate significantly with accidents, i.e. the time that the catheter remained within a vessel and difficulty in performing the procedure.