Sir,  My Dads age is around 55years and he is diabetic since last 25 years & had undergone open heart surgery in 2006. Now he is having heart pain since last 2 months, even by changing the medicines it is not subsiding and the doctor is suggesting for an Angiogram. Is there is any non-invasive way to detect the blockages like 3D-CT Scan ?Are these non-invasive techniques better than regular angiogram. Please suggest. -Manoj
Hello and thank you for using Chat Doctor. I carefully read your question and I understand your concern. I will try to explain you something and give you my opinion. To diagnose ischemic heart disease, angiography still remains the gold standard. As you explain, your father is experiencing chest pains and he already had a previous heart problems and did surgery. So, having chest pain rises the doubt in ischemic heart disease or having blockage in the coronary artery. The only way to definitely diagnose is coronary angiography. Other examinations like Anglo ct are not as specific, and they do not make definite diagnose. They just make an orientation if it is a problem or not and the next step will be still angiography. So, if the pain is typical, if he had done a street test if it was possible, the only way to make definite diagnose is angiography. Hope I was helpful. Bestregards, Chat Doctor.