Advances in angiography and their impact on endovascular therapy.

Transvascular therapy has progressed rapidly due to improvements in imaging equipment and endovascular devices. Interventional fluoroscopic equipment and portable machines are able to produce high-resolution digital images in well-lighted procedure rooms. Catheters and guidewires are now available in a variety of shapes, diameters and lengths, allowing entry into distal, small, and tortuous vessels. This in turn permits targeted local therapy of tumors and bleeding sites, as well as endovascular treatment of diseased vessels.