Complications following transfemoral cerebral angiography for cerebral ischemia. Report of 159 angiograms and correlation with surgical risk.

One hundred fifty-nine transfemoral cerebral angiograms for patients with carotid stenosis who subsequently underwent carotid endarterectomy were reviewed. No patient with an asymptomatic carotid bruit developed cerebrovascular complications during angiography. Patients with transient ischemic attacks (TIAs) had a 4.5% incidence of complications. Patients with stroke in evolution had a complication rate of 7.7%. Patients with completed strokes had no angiographic complications. No complication lasted more than 1 hour; all occurred during angiography or immediately afterwards. Stroke in progress has too high a surgical and angiographic risk to warrant study. Transient ischemic attacks have an acceptable morbidity both surgically and angiographically.