Assessment of acute injuries and chronic intimal thickening of the radial artery after transradial coronary intervention by optical coherence tomography.
OBJECTIVE
Transradial coronary intervention (TRI) introduces a trauma to the radial artery (RA), possibly influencing quality as a bypass conduit if subsequently used. We sought to determine the acute and chronic effects of TRI on the RA by optical coherence tomography (OCT).


RESULTS
Immediately after TRI completion, 73 RAs in 69 patients were examined. The sheath was pulled back 2 cm distal to the puncture site, and OCT imaging was performed. The acute injuries and intimal thickening were compared between first-TRI RAs and repeat-TRI RAs. Intimal tears were observed in 49 RAs (67.1%) and were more frequent in the distal than in the proximal RA (P = 0.001). Medial dissections were not uncommon (26 RAs, 35.6%). The frequency of acute injury was significantly higher in repeat-TRI RAs (P < 0.001). Intima/medial area, the maximum intimal thickness/medial thickness ratio, and per cent narrowing were all significantly greater in repeat-TRI RAs in the distal and proximal RA. Multivariate analysis revealed that a repeated TRI procedure was the only independent predictor of intimal thickening.


CONCLUSIONS
Optical coherence tomography clearly demonstrated significant acute injuries and chronic intimal thickening of RA after TRI. Further study should evaluate the impact of these effects when TRI RAs are subsequently used as conduits, on long-term graft patency and on clinical outcomes after bypass surgery.
Yonetsu
Taishi
T
Department of Cardiology, Tsuchiura Kyodo Hospital, 11-7, Manabeshin-machi, Tsuchiura, Ibaraki 300-0053, Japan. yonetsu@gmail.com
Kakuta
Tsunekazu
T
Lee
Tetsumin
T
Takayama
Kei
K
Kakita
Ken
K
Iwamoto
Taro
T
Kawaguchi
Naohiko
N
Takahashi
Kentaro
K
Yamamoto
Ginga
G
Iesaka
Yoshito
Y
Fujiwara
Hideomi
H
Isobe
Mitsuaki
M
D000208:Acute Disease; D000368:Aged; D050197:Atherosclerosis / Q000473:pathology; D002908:Chronic Disease; D001026:Coronary Artery Bypass / Q000379:methods; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007431:Intraoperative Complications / Q000473:pathology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015588:Observer Variation; D017534:Radial Artery / Q000293:injuries* / Q000473:pathology; D020858:Tissue and Organ Harvesting / Q000009:adverse effects*; D041623:Tomography, Optical Coherence; D017539:Tunica Intima / Q000473:pathology*; D017540:Tunica Media / Q000293:injuries / Q000473:pathology*