Distal transradial access. Initial experience. Results

Introduction: Conventional access through the radial artery (cTRA) is a standard approach in coronary interventions. Unfortunately, it carries a risk of long-term complications such as radial artery occlusion (RAO) and local complications, usually hematomas. Aim: Sharing initial experience in the application of distal transradial access (dTRA) on 134 patients, from single operator in one center and its applicability on patients with STEMI. Number of procedures required to get experience with this access, assessed by the degree of reduction of failed procedures. Materials and methods: From 08.03.21 to 18.11.21, 134 patients with dTRA (110 successful, 24 unsuccessful) were included in the study. dTRA is comsidered to be an access to the anatomical snuffbox. Completion of the entire procedure, not just a successful puncture or insertion of an introducer, was considered the access successful. Results: It was found that the success of the method was 82% of the criteria preset. Among the successful procedures, 48% were interventions. Of these, 71% had ACS and 43.6% had STEMI. The access was used on 3 patients who had CTO. Two patients underwent rotablation using a 7 in 6 Fr introduser. O