Radial Artery Catheterization for Percutaneous Vascular or Coronary Interventions: An Innocent Procedure?

Y an et al in this issue of Angiology evaluate the impact of radial catheterization for coronary angiography and percutaneous coronary interventions (PCI). They measured the radial artery diameter and intima-media thickness (IMT) before, 1 day and 1 month after transradial coronary procedures. The mean radial artery IMT increased from 0.25 + 0.12 mm before the procedure to 0.69 + 0.31 mm 1 day post procedure (P 1.5 mm showed that a small preoperative radial artery diameter predicts early failure of the AVF. While all patients with radial artery internal diameter >1.5 mm had a patent AVF at 12 weeks, 45% of those individuals with a radial artery diameter <1.5 mm showed thrombosis of the AVF. These results were verified in another study. Another study showed that microinflammation plays a role in the dysfunction of AVFs. Therefore, careful artery selection may reduce the failure rates of AVFs. A similar situation applies to patients undergoing CABG. A study comparing the injury to the radial artery in patients undergoing single or multiple transradial interventions showed that the lumen area and minimal lumen diameter in the latter group were From the Department of Vascular Surgery, Red Cross Hospital, Athens, Greece (KIP); Athens Navy Hospital, Athens, Greece (EA); Athens University Medical School, Athens, Greece (MA); and Department of Clinical Biochemistry (Vascular Disease Prevention Clinics), Royal Free Campus, University College London Medical School, University College London (UCL), London, United Kingdom (DPM).