Page "Coronary catheterization" Paragraph 3

Coronary artery luminal narrowing reduces the flow reserve for oxygenated blood to the heart, typically producing intermittent angina.

Very advanced luminal occlusion usually produces a heart attack.

However, it has been increasingly recognized, since the late 1980s, that coronary catheterization does not allow the recognition of the presence or absence of coronary atherosclerosis itself, only significant luminal changes which have occurred as a result of end stage complications of the atherosclerotic process.

See IVUS and atheroma for a better understanding of this issue.