Radial Access Center for Transradial Approach -- Angioplasty.Org

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Radial Approach Overview

First described in 1989, the use of the radial artery in the forearm for angiography and angioplasty offers a lower complication rate and a higher degree of patient comfort. Widely used in Europe and Japan, the transradial approach is starting to gain popularity among physicians in the U.S. (Read more...)

NewsCenter: Reports and Features
Breaking news, original reporting and links to transradial access-related news stories.

Another Way To Rescue A Threatened Heart: Through The Wrist (from Florida Today)

Wrist Angioplasty Associated with 50% Less Blood Transfusions and Lower Mortality

Angioplasty from the Wrist: Transradial Approach Offers Benefits to Patients and Physicians

Hospital Locator
For Patients in the United States: Find a hospital near you where transradial angiograms and angioplasty are performed.

External Reference Material and Bibliographic Links
A listing of journal articles and web links about transradial access and related topics. These are provided as a service by Angioplasty.Org, which is not responsible for the content found on any external sites.

Discussion Forum
Angioplasty.Org hosts a Forum for topics in interventional cardiology. In some of the most posted-to threads, patients discuss complications they have encountered, often involving femoral access.

In the topic about radial access, patients describe their experiences with transradial angioplasty. A recent patient stated that he felt "more pain at the dentist having a filling" Other relevant topics deal with complications from the femoral approach. While these postings represent a small percentage of all catheterizations performed, it is instructive to read these stories to help recognize and treat these occurrences.

•	Post your experiences with having the radial approach to angioplasty
•	Femoral Complications from Catheterization or Angioplasty
•	Angio-Seal, StarClose and Other Vascular Closure Devices

Angioplasty.Org Interview with:
John T. Coppola, MD

Dr. Coppola is internationally recognized as an expert in performing transradial catheterization. He has presented this procedure to interventional cardiologists worldwide.

Dr. Coppola regularly brings international experts in the transradial technique to St. Vincent's in Manhattan for a special course. His next course will be held on June 12-13, 2008. (More information on this course can be found here.)

Q: From your experience, what are the major benefits for patients with the radial approach?
Dr. Coppola: For the patients, the benefit is that it's a safer procedure. There's a lack of bleeding. And everything that's coming out now in the literature suggests that if you have bleeding complications, it impacts not only on your short-term, but your long-term survival. So if a procedure has less of a risk of bleeding, it should also theoretically translate into better survival. Having that benefit in terms of less bleeding makes it safer, makes you feel more willing to use potent antiplatelet agents, like IIb/IIIa inhibitors, with some degree of impunity because you're not worrying about retroperitoneal bleeds or groin hematomas. (Read entire interview...)

Also read the Angioplasty.Org Interviews with: R. Lee Jobe, MD
Dr. Jobe is Chairman of Invasive Cardiology at Wake Medical Center in Raleigh, North Carolina. He considers the radial artery approach to be his primary choice for catheter access to the coronary circulation when performing percutaneous procedures because of the benefits for both his patients and his practice.

Jeffrey J. Popma, MD
		Dr. Popma is the Director of the Cardiac Catherization laboratory at St. Elizabeth's Hospital in Boston. A regular speaker at major cardiology meetings, he has published more than 280 peer-reviewed manuscripts and has served as president of the Society for Cardiac Angiography and Interventions (SCAI)

Training Opportunities

St. Vincent's Hospital in Manhattan will be offering a special two-day physician training program focusing on the clinical, didatic and practical aspects of transradial access on June 12-13, 2008. The expert faculty at St. Vincent's of Dr. John T. Coppola and Dr. Tak Kwan will be joined by internationally reknowned Dr. Shigeru Saito of Kamakura, Japan. Physicians will partake in didactic training, to include tips and tricks, equipment usage, pharmacology, and patient, physician and hospital benefits. In addition, the physician will practice cases with transradial simulators and participate in live-case presentations. (Information about registering for the course can be found here.)

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