Interventional Cardiologists, Protect Yourselves from Radiation

Radial, rather than femoral, artery access during coronary angiography and percutaneous coronary intervention exposes patients to a bit more — but operators to a lot more — radiation.

For performing coronary angiography and percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), radial artery access (RAA) is associated with lower risks for bleeding and vascular complications and with potentially earlier hospital discharge compared with femoral artery access (FAA). But are operators and patients exposed to more radiation when RAA is used?

To find out, researchers conducted a substudy involving 1544 patient participants and 18 operators from an industry-funded randomized trial of RAA versus FAA for angiography and possible PCI in 4 European countries. The RAA group underwent further randomization to left or right RAA.

Clinical characteristics were similar between the RAA and FAA groups. The RAA patient group had a significantly higher med…

Reviewing Author

Joel M. Gore, MD

Disclosures

Grant/Research SupportNIH–National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute

Joel M. Gore, MD

Disclosures

Grant/Research SupportNIH–National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute

Interventional Cardiologists, Protect Yourselves from Radiation

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Reviewing Author