Coronary Angiography (Radial)

Femoral route of angiography is inconvenient to the patient as patient has to lie down for at least 6 hours with his leg straight after the angiography with higher chances of bleeding from the local site . At the same time big collections of blood occur in the thigh resulting in fall in hemoglobin causing severe anemia which requires blood transfusions.

It allows patient to be mobile just after angiogram and allows him to go home as early as 2 hours after procedure.

This has converted it into a day care procedure. In experienced hands the time taken for doing angiography by Radial or Femoral route is the same

We can also do Angioplasty by Radial route rather most of the angioplasties today in some centers are done by radial route. But still some complex interventions are done by femoral route. The procedures like ROTA are mostly done by Femoral route as lot of hard ware is to be put inside the artery and femoral artery because of its larger width can accommodate larger diameter sheaths .

Radial artery is more prone to spasm during any manipulation. Even pain and anxiety can produce spasm of the radial artery. So before the procedure intra radial verapamil/ diltiazem is given. This decreases the chances of the artery going into a spasm. Some sedation and analgesia before the procedure is also helpful.