MRA and CTA

General
1

HI,

I’m having an MRA and CTA on Monday. Can anyone tell me exactly what these are? I’ve never had them. I have only had an MRI then I had my two embolizations …one in Dec 08 and the other in Jan 09. Is this invasive at all? I need to know if I need someone to drive me there.

Thanks,
Rachel

2

The MRA is like an MRI but it shows all of the veins as well. It eliminates the need for going in through the artery in your leg for an angiogram.
I had one last year instead of the angiogram and it was no more invasive than an MRI. It feels just the same and they use the same machine with the dye. (No more laying still for 6 -8 hours and having the camera put through your veins).
If they see something that is not clear, they may want to do the angiogram but this test is so much more less evasive and allows you to get up right away and walk out just as quick as an MRI.
The risks are much fewer and almost negligable. I would not be worried at all about the MRA and as long as you do not have a history of headaches with the dye, I think you would be okay to drive yourself.
I am not sure what the CTA is but I hope the information about the MRA was helpful.

3

Susan is right; it’s basically a slightly different type of MRI. While it can show many of the same things that an angiogram can, it is not quite advanced enough to completely do away with angiograms because they cannot give the same live-action videos that can be achieved with an angiogram… Yet!

4

Hi, Rachel. I’m going in for a CTA in an hour…I’ll let you know what it’s like.

5

Hi Rachel,

Didn’t know what they were, either, so I looked them up on Wikipedia. Here are the links to the definitions:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computed_tomography_angiography
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnetic_resonance_angiography

Hope this helps!

Debbie

6

Thank you everyone! :slight_smile:
The week after my MRA and CTA I will have to have an arteriogram the day of my stereotactic radiation. Fun, fun. :slight_smile: NOT! LOL

Rachel

7

Hi, Rachel. I had the CT angiogram this morning. Once they finally called me in, it went so quickly! They set up an I.V. in my arm, then they took me to the CAT scan room. They took some pictures, then injected some dye and repeated the pictures. The dye makes your body extremely warm for a few seconds, but that’s it. You have nothing to worry about, Rachel!

Connie T said:

Hi, Rachel. I’m going in for a CTA in an hour…I’ll let you know what it’s like.

8

Thank you Connie! :slight_smile:

Connie T said:

Hi, Rachel. I had the CT angiogram this morning. Once they finally called me in, it went so quickly! They set up an I.V. in my arm, then they took me to the CAT scan room. They took some pictures, then injected some dye and repeated the pictures. The dye makes your body extremely warm for a few seconds, but that’s it. You have nothing to worry about, Rachel!

Connie T said:
Hi, Rachel. I’m going in for a CTA in an hour…I’ll let you know what it’s like.