Feasibility and safety of transradial coronary interventions using a 6.5-F sheathless guiding catheter in patients with small radial arteries.
OBJECTIVES
This study investigated the feasibility and the safety of using a 6.5-French sheathless guide catheter in patients with small radial arteries.


BACKGROUND
The small size of radial arteries is a limitation of transradial coronary intervention. A new sheathless guiding catheter with a diameter almost 2-Fr smaller than conventional sheaths and a full-length hydrophilic coating has been introduced.


METHODS
A total of 148 patients from three French hospitals were consecutively enrolled from March 2009 to February 2012. They underwent transradial approach (TRA) for percutaneous coronary interventions (PCI) using the 6.5-F ASAHI sheathless Eaucath guiding catheter system.


RESULTS
Among the 148 patients enrolled, 95 were females (64%), and 183 lesions were treated. Procedural success rate was 100%. Thirteen patients (9%) underwent same-procedure multivessel interventions for the right and left coronary artery. Among the group of 46 patients undergoing bifurcation PCI, 35 (76%) bifurcated lesions were treated with a kissing balloon technique, one patient had a saphenous vein bypass graft lesion requiring filter wire placement prior to intervention, nine (6.1%) patients required rotational atherectomy, thrombus-aspiration catheters were used in 19 (12.8%) patients, fractional flow reserve (FFR)-guided PCI in 10 (6.7%) patients, alcohol septal ablation in three (2%) patients. Ten (6.7%) cases of chronic total occlusion were successfully treated in nine (6.1%) patients using the hydrophilic catheter. No radial artery site complications was noted.


CONCLUSION
The use of sheathless guiding catheters is a safe, effective method for PCI via TRA in small radial arteries without catheter-related complications.
['Cheaito|Radi|R|', 'Benamer|Hakim|H|', 'Hovasse|Thomas|T|', 'Tritar|Amine|A|', 'Hage|Fouad|F|', 'Garot|Philippe|P|', 'Lefèvre|Thierry|T|', 'Unterseeh|Thierry|T|', 'Chevalier|Bernard|B|', 'Morice|Marie-Claude|MC|', 'Louvard|Yves|Y|']
D000328:Adult D000368:Aged D000369:Aged, 80 and over D062906:Cardiac Catheters D017023:Coronary Angiography D003324:Coronary Artery Disease D004867:Equipment Design D005240:Feasibility Studies D005260:Female D005500:Follow-Up Studies D006801:Humans D008297:Male D008875:Middle Aged D062645:Percutaneous Coronary Intervention D017534:Radial Artery D012189:Retrospective Studies
sheathless guiding catheter small radial arteries transradial approach PCI complex coronary lesion radial spasm