Peripheral arteriography an overview of its origins and present status.

Within a month after Roentgen's discovery of the X-ray, the first cadaveric peripheral arteriogram was performed. It was not until 28 years later that the initial in vivo femoral arteriogram was reported. Arteriographic growth and development since that time have been punctuated with such names as Seldinger, Steinberg, Viamonte, Abrams, Sones, and many more. Keeping pace with their technical and diagnostic achievements has been the cause for a whole new industrial field - that of angiographic equipment and technology. New X-ray tubes, generators, film, etc. have been developed. Angiographic tables are available which have been designed to do highly subspecialized studies. The spectrum of catheter curves and materials available allows visualization of vessels down to the order of 0.1 mm when combined with magnification. Chemoangiography for treatment and subselective venous sampling for hormonal assays are commonplace. Although "the beginnings" for all angiography lie in the evaluation of peripheral vasculature, equipment sophistication for this basic study has often lagged behind that of the more glamorous organal examinations. The development of the biphasic ijection technique hopefully represents an anwer to both multiple injections and X-ray exposures. It allows single injection and single exposure visualization of the vascular tree from distal aorta to the pedal vessels.