The feasibility of bypass graft angiography by right radial access.
OBJECTIVE
Left transradial coronary angiography may result in damage of both radial arteries in patients who experienced right radial access. In some patients, the left radial artery has been used as a graft. We investigated whether graft angiography using right radial access is feasible in patients with bypass surgery to preserve the left radial artery as a future graft.


METHODS
A total of 109 consecutive patients with bypass surgery who had undergone right radial access underwent graft angiography via the same access.


RESULTS
Sixteen (15%) patients were excluded because of the presence of a severely tortuous right subclavian artery. Bypass graft angiography via right radial or brachial access was completed successfully in 90 (97%) out of 93 patients. In 3 (3%) of patients, femoral access was needed to complete the angiography. Saphenous vein grafts were cannulated selectively in 150 (90%) of 167 grafts with satisfactory image quality and not found even on the aortogram in the other 17 (10%) grafts. Ninety-two (89%) out of 103 left mammary grafts were cannulated selectively or semi-selectively using a modified Simmons catheter, resulting in satisfactory image quality. The other 11 (11%) grafts were visualized non-selectively using a Judkins Left catheter, and resulting in acceptable image quality in 10 (91%) grafts. There were no procedure-related complications.


CONCLUSIONS
Graft angiography via right radial access can be performed reliably in most patients that lack severe subclavian tortuosity.
Lee
Jae Hoon
JH
Cardiology Division, Department of Internal Medicine, Dong-A University College of Medicine, Busan, Korea.
Kim
Min-Ji
MJ
Cha
Kwang Soo
KS
Choi
Jae Hyuk
JH
Lee
Sang Yeob
SY
Nam
Young Hee
YH
Park
Jong Sung
JS
Chung
Suk Hwan
SH
Kum
Dong Sung
DS
Park
Tae Ho
TH
Kim
Moo Hyun
MH
Kim
Young Dae
YD