Feasibility and safety of 7F sheathless guiding catheter during transradial coronary intervention

Objective The aim of our study is to assess the feasibility, safety, and rate of radial artery occlusion (RAO) using 7F sheathless guiding catheter in a large population undergoing transradial intervention (TRI). Background There is a frequent need for large bore guiding catheter to perform complex coronary interventions. Hydrophilic sheathless guiding catheters are not available in the US, therefore, we present the results of a multicenter study using the modified sheathless technique and readily available catheters. Methods Between December 2010 and February 2011, 116 consecutive patients from four tertiary US centers who underwent TRI using 7F sheathless guiding catheter were included in this study. Results In our study of 116 patients with 123 coronary lesions, 57 stenoses (49%) were complex interventions, which included patients with acute coronary syndromes, chronic total occlusion (CTO), bifurcation stenting, calcified lesions, left main artery, and saphenous venous graft interventions. Overall procedural success rate was 95%. At 7-day, there were six patients (5%) with RAO, of which two of the six had severe radial artery spasm during the procedure. At 30-day, the overall persistent RAO was only detected in three patients (2.5%), as three patients had return of antegrade radial artery flow. Conclusions In our multicenter study of 116 consecutive patients, using 7F sheathless guiding catheter to perform TRI is associated with a high procedural success (95%) and a low 30-day RAO rate (2.5%).