Transradial approach to angioplasty and stenting to be featured at SCAI 2010 Annual Meeting

"There's been a surge of interest in the transradial approach over the past year," according to Dr. Samir B. Pancholy, Associate Professor of Medicine, Commonwealth Medical College in Scranton, Pennsylvania. Commenting to Angioplasty.Org, Dr. Pancholy said he expected an overflow audience at the transradial sessions being held at this year's SCAI 33rd Annual Scientific Sessions in San Diego. Similar sessions at last fall's TCT and this year's ACC meetings resulted in a hundred or more cardiologists standing in the corridors, listening to the audio feed. What is driving this interest in the transradial approach to coronary interventions - a procedure where the radial artery in the wrist is used for catheter access instead of the femoral artery in the groin? Dr. Pancholy opined, "Perhaps it's because of our group [of radialists] and our presence, handing out brochures and having meetings. But perhaps more, it's because of the volume of data that's been accumulating about patient comfort and safety, the lower bleeding complications and the increasing concern about hemorrhagic complications of the transfemoral approach, which often cause worse outcomes than, for example, a micro-heart attack that may occur during the procedure."

Transradial Angioplasty activities at TCT 2009

This year's Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics meeting in San Francisco will host a number of symposia and workshops highlighting the growing use of the transradial (wrist) approach to angioplasty, stenting and diagnostic catheterizations. The centerpiece of the weeklong activities is "The Transradial Angiography and Intervention Seminar" comprising an entire afternoon with twenty-three separate presentations by global leaders in the field. - September 21-25, 2009

Transradial wrist angioplasty safe and effective in treatment of heart attack (UK)

For patients having the most serious form of heart attack, a new study from the United Kingdom concludes that primary angioplasty performed from the wrist "is safe, with comparable outcomes to a femoral approach and a lower risk of vascular complications." The study, published "online first" in Heart, the official journal of the British Cardiovascular Society, looked at 1,051 consecutive patients admitted to a single regional cardiac center with ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) between November 2004 and November 2008. Patients presenting to James Cook University Hospital in Middlesbrough were treated with percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI, a.k.a. angioplasty) using either radial (571 patients) or femoral (480) artery access. Procedural success was similar between the radial and femoral groups, but major vascular complications were more frequent at the site of femoral access (0% radial versus 1.9% femoral, p=0.001). Patients with cardiogenic shock were excluded from this study, since most would require placement of an intra-aortic balloon pump, which is done through the femoral artery - Angioplasty.Org