MODEL RELEASED. Coronary angiography. Surgeon removing a guide catheter from a 50-year-old man's arm following a coronary angiography examination. A wad of cotton wool is minimising bleeding. This procedure is used to examine a patient's coronary arteries. The guide catheter was used to create the initial entry point for a wire catheter to be passed along the patient's arteries to a position near the heart. Contrast medium is then injected to highlight the heart's coronary arteries on an X-ray. If problems such as narrowed arteries due to coronary artery disease are discovered, a coronary angioplasty treatment can be carried out to prevent a heart attack. Photographed at the American Hospital of Paris, France.