Radial Artery Access as an Emerging Factor for Decreasing Mortality in Cardiovascular Interventions

Transradial access for coronary interventions provides increased patient comfort, fewer access site complications, and reduced hospital stay and costs. However, the potential benefits favoring transradial access may be even more than these apparent advantages. Major bleeding after coronary interventions is an important factor contributing to mortality rates and can be dramatically reduced with the selection of the radial artery as the access site. Recent evidence suggests that the decrease in bleeding complications with transradial access may translate into a short- and long-term decrease in mortality in patients undergoing elective or urgent coronary interventions. In the era of complex coronary interventions with use of multiple antiplatelet and antithrombotic treatment regimens, the simple choice of transradial access for increasing patient comfort and decreasing bleeding complications and mortality is promising. (J Interven Cardiol 2010;23:95-99).