POSTPROCEDURAL ULTRASOUND EVALUATION OF PROXIMAL AND DISTAL RADIAL ARTERY AFTER CATHETERIZATION USING DISTAL RADIAL ACCESS

Distal radial access (DRA) becomes now more and more popular among interventional cardiologists. It is well known, that utilization of DRA effectively spares proximal radial artery in terms of minimizing the rate of the radial artery occlusion (RAO). The aim of our study was to evaluate patency not only proximal radial artery, but also distal radial artery using ultrasound (US) as the most reliable method. We evaluated 115 patients who underwent catheterization via distal radial access (dTRA). Following the procedure and after successful hemostasis, arterial patency and diameter at conventional transradial access (cTRA) and distal puncture sites (either in the anatomical snuffbox or the dorsal distal RA) were assessed. No RAO were found in the proximal or distal RA and there were no significant other complications including haematomas >2 cm. The mean diameter of the radial artery at conventional puncture site was 2.86 ± 0.49 mm and at distal puncture site 2.31 ± 0.47 mm (p < 0.001). Postprocedural compression time of dTRA was very short (80 ± 36 min). In conclusion distal radial access was associated with the absence of early arterial occlusion, and other relevant complications.
Work was supported by the Charles University Research program „Cooperatio – Cardiovascular Science“ and by MH CZ-DRO (Faculty Hospital in Pilsen - FNPl, 00669806)