Mark,Hello and welcome to HealingWell. I know you must be feeling anxiety over the echo and not knowing what the Dr. saw on your echo it is hard to comment as well as I am not a Dr.
The difference between an MRA and an angiogram:
They are two different exams, however, both are useful for diagnostic purposes and there are many variables as to why one physician would use one over the other. Both can yield the same results, but again, variables do play a factor. Having an MRA has many contraindications: If a patient has any metal implantations, pacemakers, etc.. are NOT able to go into an MRI machine, therefore, traditional angiography is useful.
MRA - It is a minimally invasive medical test that uses an MRI machine to produce pictures of major blood vessels throughout the body by using radio waves and a computer. It does NOT use ionizing radiation, like X-rays, and can be done with or without contrast material.
Angiography - Allows access to the blood vessels most commonly through the femoral artery, to look at the left side of the heart and the arterial system or the jugular or femoral vein, to look at the right side of the heart and the venous system. Using a system of guide wires and catheters, a type of contrast agent (which shows up by absorbing the x-rays), is added to the blood to make it visible on the x-ray images.
My best advice to you would be to make an appointment with your Cardiologist and ask him re which test would give him the best information to make a dx as to what is going on with your heart.
You also may want to read the report on the results of the echo as it should be available to you. Once you have gathered all the data you can make in informed consent on which test you prefer to agree to.
I wish you the best and please know coming here and talking with us is a good thing.
Kindly,
Kitt