Selective coronary arteriography via transradial access in young children

Background: Transradial access (TRA) is not a common vascular access in children. We have been performing TRA actively to reduce puncture complications, and the purpose of this study was to investigate the safety and efficacy of TRA in young children.

Methods: The study included 29 patients aged 5-12 years who underwent diagnostic catheterization at Kurume University Hospital. Vascular access was placed through TRA in 11 of these patients and through transfemoral access (TFA) in 18 patients with comparable ages. We compared TRA with TFA using various demographic data.

Results: The median age of TRA was 10 years (5-12 years) and that of TFA was 7 years (5-11 years). They were not significantly different. Transradial access showed an acceptably high success rate (91%), which was comparable with that of TFA (100%), although we had to switch to TFA in one patient in which the radial artery diameter was too small to puncture and due to failure of appropriate sedation and local anesthesia. A comparison between the two groups showed no significant differences in weight, puncture success rate, total time to completion of both arterial and venous puncture, or fluoroscopy time. However, none of the patients with TRA required post-catheter bed rest after removal of the arterial sheath, whereas patients with TFA required 6 h of bed rest. Although there were no puncture complications in group TRA, one patient with TFA had a subcutaneous hematoma.

Conclusion: Transradial access can be performed safely in young children and may be more beneficial than TFA.