Issue: April 2016
February 03, 2016
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Radial artery occlusion common after transradial intervention

Issue: April 2016
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Radial artery occlusion appears to be a common complication after transradial interventions. Maintenance of radial patency, high-dose heparin and shorter compression times may be recommended to reduce radial artery occlusion, according to a new report in the Journal of the American Heart Association.

Researchers performed a systematic review and meta-analysis of studies of radial artery occlusion in transradial interventions. In total, the analysis included 66 studies (retrospective cohort, randomized, matched/case-control, cohort) comprising 31,345 participants. The mean age of participants was 64 years and 70% were men.

In these studies, incident radial artery occlusion ranged from less than 1% to 33%. The researchers observed variations in incidence based on timing of assessment of radial artery patency. The incidence of radial artery occlusion was 7.7% within 24 hours and 5.5% after 1 week, according to the findings. Sensitivity analyses revealed an increase in the incidence of radial artery occlusion over time.

Higher-dose heparin (5,000 IU) was associated with a decreased incidence of radial artery occlusion compared with lower doses (2,000 IU to 3,000 IU; RR = 0.36; 95% CI, 0.17-0.76). A 15-minute compression time was associated with lower risk for radial artery occlusion compared with a 2-hour compression time (RR = 0.28; 95% CI, 0.05-1.5). Several other factors were associated with reduced radial artery occlusion, such as age, sex, sheath size and radial artery diameter; however, these factors varied across all studies included in the analysis.

Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.