Recent advances in digital angiographic equipment design have enabled
a new technique of peripheral arteriography involving digital bolus ch
asing to be developed. This technique permits real-time visualization
of the contrast bolus so that it can be followed peripherally with dig
ital images being acquired at a suitable frame rate. We give the first
description of this technique using the Philips Integris C2000 and co
mpared it to conventional stepped arteriography. Sixty-one patients un
dergoing peripheral arteriography using the conventional stepped techn
ique were compared with 55 patients using bolus chasing. The parameter
s assessed were the procedure time the number of runs and screening ti
me, per investigation, the consumables used, the patient and radiologi
st radiation dose and the image quality. A reduction in the procedure
time and the patient and radiologist radiation dose, and improvement i
n image quality are demonstrated with the bolus chasing technique. Bol
us chasing represents an important advance in peripheral arteriography
.