Study of the Influence of Upper Extremities Variation on Transradial Success

Abstract

Background. To investigate whether the presence of arterial anomalies in upper limb arteries can influence the success rate of transradial coronary angiography. Methods. retrograde transarterial sheath injection was done in patients with transradial coronary angiography. Arterial anomalies in the upper limb are evaluated in these patients. There are ten brachial (5.4%), 7 radial (4/2%), 5 subclavian (3%), and 3 brachiocephalic arteries (1.8%). There also were 4 loops in ulnar artery (2.4%) and one in radial (0.6%). Except cannulation time (), there were associations between anomalies and other times () and contrast volume used (). Anomalies did not have any effect on procedural success rate and just in one patient because of subclavian loop,procedure changed to femoral approach (). Discussion. Patients without upper extremities anomalies in comparison with patients with anomalies had significantly shorter periods for angiographic time, catheterization time, and fluoroscopic time. We recommend femoral catheterization instead of radial catheterization in patients with upper extremities anomalies.