Distal radial artery: The last extreme rescue arterial access for interventional radiologists?

Abstract

Transradial artery approach as primary access for transcatheter diagnosis and intervention is associated with lower risk of bleeding and major vascular complications, improved patient comfort and shorter time to hemostasis and ambulation than femoral one. Patient’s adequate hand collateral perfusion, assessed by the Barbeau test, must be depicted prior to transradial artery approach in order to assess any absolute contraindication (D waveform). We describe the distal transradial artery approach, recently proposed for coronary interventions, used in emergency to embolize an intestinal bleeding in an 84-year-old woman and a left pectoralis major muscle bleeding in an 83-year-old woman, both with high risk of bleeding for femoral approach and contraindication for transradial artery approach (Barbeau D waveform).