Risk factors and temporal trends for vascular access-related complications in coronary procedures: evolving from femoral to radial approach.

Introduction: Radial access is the gold standard for ST-elevation myocardial infarction; nevertheless, there is scarce information in Mexico.

Objectives: The objectives of this study were to describe the differences in radiation exposure, intervention time, fluoroscopy time, complications and temporal trends, and risk factors among radial and femoral access for coronary procedures.

Materials And Methods: A total of 493 patients underwent coronary interventions by femoral or radial access. Sociodemographic and procedural data were recorded. A logistic regression model to determine risk factors for complications was performed.

Results: The population included 346 men and 147 women, with a median age of 63 years, 159 underwent radial and 334 femoral approaches. Complications occurred in 18 patients (3.6%), 11 in radial and 7 in femoral access, with a higher trend in the first 5 months (n = 14). Vasospasm was the most common (n = 9) complication. Median fluoroscopy time was 12 min for radial and 9 min for femoral groups, with a total radiation dose of 2282 µ and 2848 µ, respectively. Temporal trends showed that complications occurred most frequently during the first 6 months of the study. The main predictors for complications were intervention time and one-vessel disease.

Conclusions: Radial access had higher frequency of complications than femoral approach and they were more common during the first 6 months. The main risk factor was intervention time longer than 60 min.