REVIEWS   

Minerva Cardioangiologica 2015 October;63(5):449-56

Copyright © 2015 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

language: English

Transradial arterial access catheter knots: how to stay out of trouble

Kassimis G. ¹, Channon K. M. ², Hahalis G. ³, Poulimenos L. ¹, Manolis A. ¹, Banning A. P. ², Krokidis M. ⁴ ✉

¹ Department of Cardiology, Asklepeion General Hospital, Athens, Greece; ² Department of Cardiology, Oxford University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, Oxford, UK; ³ Department of Cardiology, University Hospital of Patras, Greece; ⁴ Department of Radiology, Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Cambridge, UK

Transradial access has nowadays become a standard of care for percutaneous coronary angiography and intervention. This approach has demonstrated significant reduction in bleeding rate, length of hospital stay, and improvement in clinical outcomes when compared to the traditional transfemoral approach. Due to its advantages this new access is also increasingly being used in non-coronary visceral or peripheral interventions. However, this novel approach may lead to severe catheter kinking and twisting and further manipulation may be required to unravel the catheter and avoid complication. Purpose of this technical review is to present the current techniques and trends in preventing and resolving issues related to radial access catheter kinks.