Procedure
Diagnostic coronary angiography
A routine diagnostic study acquires a defined set of projections so every segment of every major vessel is seen in at least two near-orthogonal views. Click any projection below to swing the C-arm and highlight the segments that view is meant to interrogate.
LCA acquisition
RCA acquisition
The RCA travels down the right atrioventricular groove. At the crux of the heart — where the posterior AV groove meets the posterior interventricular groove — the dominant artery gives rise to the posterior descending artery (PDA) and posterolateral branches (PLBs).
Coronary dominance describes which vessel reaches the crux and supplies these inferior territories:
- Right-dominant (~70–85% of people): PDA and PLBs arise from the RCA. The most common pattern.
- Left-dominant (~5–10%): PDA and PLBs arise from the left circumflex (LCx). Despite the RCA still existing, the LCx does the heavy lifting inferiorly.
- Co-dominant (~10–20%): Both the RCA and LCx contribute to posterior supply.
Real protocols vary by lab and by patient anatomy. Operators add or replace views when a region is foreshortened, when a graft is present, or when an ostial lesion needs a clean profile.