WEDNESDAY, May 9 (HealthDay News) -- Women undergoing percutaneous coronary catheterization have fewer puncture-related hemorrhages with radial artery catheterization than with the traditional femoral approach, according to a report in the May 1 issue of the American Journal of Cardiology.
Christian Pristipino, M.D., of San Filippo Neri Hospital in Rome, Italy, and colleagues followed 2,919 individuals who had undergone 3,261 radial or femoral artery catheterization procedures, quantifying instances of minor and major puncture-related hemorrhages.
Thirty-nine of 1,558 femoral procedures (14 men, 25 women) resulted in major hemorrhage and 337 (100 men, 237 women) resulted in minor bleeding. One of 1,703 radial procedures resulted in major hemorrhage, and 39 (20 men, 19 women) resulted in minor bleeding. Predictors of major bleeding events included femoral approach (odds ratio, 27.4), use of glycoprotein IIb/IIIa inhibitors (OR, 5.6) and female gender (OR, 4.5). Fourteen percent of female patients undergoing radial artery catheterization required a second arterial access site, compared to 1.7 percent of males.
"Routine use of radial artery catheterization may significantly decrease bleeding-based morbidity and mortality after coronary interventions, with better efficacy and lower cost than new, expensive pharmacologic or device-based strategies," the authors write.
Abstract
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