title: Transitioning to the radial artery as the preferred access site for cardiac catheterization: an academic medical center experience.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate procedural and safety metrics of transradial (TR) versus transfemoral (TF) cardiac catheterization (CATH) and percutaneous coronary interventions (PCI) during a complete institutional transition from TF to TR as the preferred access.
  
  
  BACKGROUND
  The TR approach has been shown to reduce complications compared to TF for CATH and PCI, but concerns of longer procedure times have limited utilization in the United States.
  
  
  METHODS
  4,172 consecutive CATH and PCI procedures were performed (2,665 TF; 1,507 TR) at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center from January 2009 to November 2010. We assessed in-hospital procedural and safety metrics.
  
  
  RESULTS
  After 6 months of a preferred TR strategy, TR to TF crossover rate was 9.1%, and 65% of all cases were TR procedures. For the cath lab (all TF + TR), we observed small but significant increases in procedural metrics for Preferred TR (last third) compared to Preferred TF (first third). This appeared to be due to increased access times, procedure length, fluoroscopy times, and contrast use for TR versus TF (propensity score matched). Nonetheless, over the course of the study, there was a trend for a decrease in all procedural metrics with TR use. Access site complications (2.3% TF, 1.2% TR) and bleeding (2.5% TF, 2.1% TR), both P < 0.05, decreased over the course of the study.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our observations support the concept that complete transition of a cath lab to a preferred TR strategy is feasible, achieves lower rates of vascular and bleeding complications but with modest increases in overall procedural metrics.
authors.affiliation: Section of Cardiology, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Medical Center Boulevard, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, USA.
authors.forename: Samuel
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Turner
authors.forename: Matthew
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sacrinty
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Manogue
authors.forename: William
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Little
authors.forename: Sanjay
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Gandhi
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kutcher
authors.forename: Renato
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Santos
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Applegate
mesh_terms: D000046:Academic Medical Centers; D000368:Aged; D006328:Cardiac Catheterization / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D005240:Feasibility Studies; D005260:Female; D005263:Femoral Artery; D006470:Hemorrhage / Q000209:etiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009657:North Carolina; D061214:Patient Safety; D062645:Percutaneous Coronary Intervention / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards; D057216:Propensity Score; D019984:Quality Indicators, Health Care; D017534:Radial Artery; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012307:Risk Factors; D013997:Time Factors; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014652:Vascular Diseases / Q000209:etiology