title: Three-digit Allen's test.
abstract: Hand ischemia after radial artery intervention remains a rare but serious complication. Allen's test is widely used to assess the adequacy of ulnar collateral circulation to the hand. There have been documented cases of hand ischemia after radial artery intervention even with a negative test. We describe a modification of Allen's test based on the anatomy of the radial artery branches that could potentially decrease the number of false negative tests.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Northern General Hospital, Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Sheffield, United Kingdom. m.asif@ntlworld.com
authors.forename: Mohammed
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Asif
authors.forename: Pradip K
authors.initials: PK
authors.lastname: Sarkar
mesh_terms: D001164:Arteriovenous Fistula / Q000601:surgery; D001783:Blood Flow Velocity; D003097:Collateral Circulation; D006225:Hand / Q000098:blood supply*; D006801:Humans; D007511:Ischemia / Q000209:etiology*; D010173:Palpation; D011183:Postoperative Complications / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology; D017534:Radial Artery / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000601:surgery*; D012039:Regional Blood Flow; D012867:Skin / Q000098:blood supply; D017535:Ulnar Artery