Anyone ever had a Angiogram?

[BarbieGirl]

My F.I.L has been getting chest pains when walking etc for a while now. He went for a stress test yesturday. He had to walk on a treadmill whilst the doctors were monitoring his heart. Anyway, he only managed 7 minutes and the pain started.

He was initially told he suffered with Hiatus hernia but now they are saying he may have Angina or something else.

What does the test involve? Any info appreciated - he is really worried. He is 62.

He will be admitted to a day unit and have the procedure explained to him, allergies checked, consent form signed etc.
Once in the angiogram room, he will lie on his back on an imaging bed. They will get him as comfy as possible as the procedure will take about half an hour, but sometimes longer.
They may have to shave a bit of hair from his groin crease, dependent on how hairy he is, and then will clean the area with really cold solution unless they remember to warm it up. They will inject some local anaesthetic to numb the area which will sting a bit.
They then put a needle into the artery, feed a guide wire in to keep the position and take out the needle. They then feed the angiogram catheter over the guidewire into the right position, using fluoroscopy (real time xrays) to check the position as they go.
Once in the right place they will inject contrast (an iodine based liquid which shows up on xray outlining where it has been injected into) and take images. He should be able to watch on the TV screen if he wants. This will be repeated as often as necessary. Sometimes thay need to exchange the catheters for different ones.
When he has the contrast injected he is likely to get a feeling of a hot flush all over, may get a dry or odd taste in his mouth, some people feel like they're wetting themselves (it's that hot flush thing again) or some people say it feels like the big 'O'
Once they have all the images they need they will remove the cather and guidewire and apply very firm pressure to the puncture site for at least 10 - 15 minutes. It is very important that he stays lying flat afterwards until they say he can sit up / move his leg to prevent him opening up the wound and bruising / bleeding lots.
Sometimes they find a narrowing on the angiogram that they can treat by angioplasty. This involves a balloon catheter being placed in the narrowed area, the balloon being inflated and this stretches the narrowed section.
They will keep him in the unit for a number of hours after the procedure to make sure he is OK, and give him something to eat and drink whilst he is waiting. He shouldn't drive himself home because of the procedure, but they will give him information about what he can resume when.
Hope it all goes well on the day.

Thank you very much Vole.