Clinical outcomes following radial versus femoral artery access in primary or rescue percutaneous coronary intervention in Scotland: retrospective cohort study of 4534 patients

Abstract

Objective To assess short-term and medium-term outcomes following radial and femoral artery access for primary or rescue percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). Design Retrospective cohort study. Setting Scotland-wide. Patients All 4534 patients undergoing primary or rescue PCI in Scotland between April 2000 and March 2009 using the Scottish Coronary Revascularisation Register. Intervention Primary or rescue PCI. Main outcome measures Procedural success; peri-procedural complications; 30-day and 1-year mortality, myocardial infarction or stroke and long-term mortality. Results Use of the radial approach increased from no cases in 2000 to 924 (80.5%) in 2009 (pConclusion Use of the radial artery for primary or rescue PCI is associated with improved clinical outcomes.