The impact of operator experience during institutional adoption of trans-radial cardiac catheterization

Objectives: We studied the impact of operator experience on trans-radial (TR) cardiac catheterization performance in contemporary practice.

Background: TR cardiac catheterization offers advantages over trans-femoral (TF) cardiac catheterization, but the TR approach has been slowly adopted in the United States.

Methods: We reviewed all cases of attempted TR cardiac catheterization at a single tertiary care medical center from May 2008 until April 2015. We classified the attending operator TR case experience at the time of each case, and the control group constituted cases performed by operators with >300 TR cases. Study endpoints were TR cannulation failure, TF cross-over, contrast medium dose, and fluoroscopy time.

Results: Over the study period, 4177 attempted TR cardiac catheterization cases were performed. The percentage of TR cases performed with percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) increased from 14.0% in 2009 to 30.2% in 2015 (P-trend <0.001). The rate of TR cannulation failure decreased from 4.3% in 2009 to 2.0% in 2015 (P-trend = 0.071), and the rate of TF cross-over decreased from 4.3% in 2009 to 3.2% in 2015 (P-trend = 0.034). Operators with over 100 cases had the lowest odds of TR cannulation failure, while operators with over 200 cases had the lowest odds of TF cross-over. Operators with over 200 cases used the lowest mean contrast medium dose and mean fluoroscopy time.

Conclusions: Increasing operator TR experience is associated with lower odds of TR cannulation failure and TF cross-over, as well as lower contrast medium dose and fluoroscopy time. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.