Impact of radial and femoral access on radiation dose and fluorography time in patients with acute coronary syndrome

Background: Current guidelines favor radial over femoral access in patients with acute coronary syndromes for safety according to the results of recent trials. However, influence of access site on radiation dose and fluorography time is still unclear. Methods: We retrospectively analyzed 390 patients who underwent percutaneous coronary intervention for acute coronary syndrome in Kardiocentrum Vysocina. We compared the access site with the number of stents implanted, the average fluorography time in minutes, the average radiation dose and mean effective dose that each patient received in Gy/cm(2) or mSv respectively. Results: Use of femoral access resulted in approximately 11% lower radiation dose (p = 0.03). There has been no significant difference between fluorography time and the number of stents implanted in both cohorts. Conclusion: We found that the radiation dose was lower in femorally accessed group. Although radiation dose is not the main concern in patients with acute coronary syndromes, our results suggest that femoral access can be preferred over radial access in certain situations. (c) 2017 The Czech Society of Cardiology. Published by Elsevier Sp. zo.o. All rights reserved.