On the occasion of the 20th anniversary of transradial intervention (TRI), I talked with Dr. Ferdinand Kiemeneij, “the father of transradial intervention” who practices interventional cardiology at Onze Lieve Vrouwe Gasthuis (OLVG), Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
We covered a wide range of topics regarding TRI, where angioplasty and stents are placed via the wrist, and we’ve just posted the two-part interview on Angioplasty.Org.
- Part One discusses how and why he originally developed the technique, how equipment changed to make TRI easier and safer, how and where it has been adopted, and some thoughts about complications, specifically radial artery occlusion (RAO);
- Part Two continues discussing RAO and how to avoid it, compression techniques, and Dr. Kiemeneij’s vision of the future of TRI and what needs to happen for its ultimate worldwide acceptance as the default approach for catheter-based intervention.
Dr. Kiemeneij first began doing angioplasty and stent placement from the wrist in 1992 and has been teaching, lecturing and doing live case demonstrations around the world ever since. He travels regularly to India, Japan and China and recently received a B.A. in sinology! He is also an avid photographer. And, although he prefers “old school” black-and-white photos, he’s very 21st century: last year, in celebration of the 20th anniversary of TRI, he created an app for the iPhone and iPad, called TRIbune, which can be downloaded free from the iTunes store. He is also active on Twitter and can be found at @ferdikiem.
This interview, and more to come in the weeks ahead from interventional cardiologists Sandeep Nathan, Ron Caputo, Sanjit Jolly, Jack Lassetter and Aaron Fischman, are part of Angioplasty.Org’s Transradial Access Center, an ongoing initiative to educate patients and professionals about the transradial approach to diagnostic and interventional procedures. Our center is supported by Medtronic Cardiovascular, which designated the month of June as “Transradial Awareness Month.”
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