A MAN died after a routine check for people with suspected heart problems went catastrophically wrong.

During a routine angiogram X-ray checking for heart problems at King George V Hospital in Goodmayes, a piece of furry tissue from one of Dominic Correia's coronary arteries was dislodged by a catheter.

The tissue found its way to the arteries leading to the back of Mr Correia's brain and blocked the blood supply known an a cerebral infarction.

He underwent surgery to try to reduce the size of the oiece of tissue but never regained consciousness and died.

Walthamstow Coroner's Court heard how only one in every 1,000 angiograms ends in such a piece of tissue being dislodged and even fewer cases end in death.

Mr Correia, of Love Lane, Woodford Green, underwent heart bypass surgery in 1993 and also had four grafts inserted to help the blood flow to the heart.

However his son Kennedy told the inquest his father had been "in the best health for three years".

That was until a visit to his native Goa shortly before his death. While in Goa Mr Correia suffered left ventricle failure the failure of the heart to pump blood properly.

On his return Mr Correia sought advice from his GP who advised an angiogram.

Mr Correia drove to King George V Hospital on April 18 this year, the court heard, for the check-up which usually should take no longer than an hour.

But during the angiogram the court was told that Mr Correia was sick and suffered headaches. The procedure was immediately stopped.

His speech became slurred in the aftermath of the procedure and cardiologists suspected a problem with the back part of the brain as Mr Correia also showed signs of disorientation.

However a CT scan was not carried out at that time as, the court was told, any such problems would not immediately show up in the scan's results.

A CT scan was carried-out the following day and results confirmed the cardiologists' fears that the brain had been affected.

Mr Correia was transferred to the specialist Oldchurch hospital in Romford where surgery was carried-out to unblock the infarcted area.

His family were told at this stage that there was a 50 per cent risk of death and, if Mr Correia survived, a further 50 per cent chance of him being mentally disabled. However, they agreed that surgery should go ahead.

Mr Correia was transferred back to King George V Hospital but did not regain consciousness and died 11 days after the angiogram.

Cause of death was given as cerebral infarction and Dr Elizabeth Stearns recorded a verdict of misadventure - an angiogram followed by catastrophic events.

cstong@london.newsquest.co.uk