BACKGROUND: Although the transradial approach had significantly reduced vascular complications, studies have demonstrated that it may be related to higher radiation exposure. The objective of this study is to compare radiation exposure in invasive cardiologic procedures using the transradial and transfemoral approaches. METHODS: Prospective cohort study including patients undergoing diagnostic cardiac catheterization or percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) between August 2010 and December 2011. Clinical, angiographic and radiation exposure characteristics were recorded in a dedicated database. Patients were analyzed according to the access route: femoral or radial. RESULTS: Of the 1,197 patients included in the study, 782 were submitted to procedures using the femoral access and 415 using the radial access. There was a lower prevalence of females (36.2% vs. 45.6%; P < 0.01), previous coronary artery bypass graft surgery (4% vs. 12.7%; P < 0.01) and severe valvular heart disease (0.3% vs. 1.4%; P = 0.07) in the radial group. The median radiation dose received by the patients was higher with the radial approach, both for diagnostic (621.6 mGy vs 445.7 mGy; P < 0.01) and therapeutic procedures (1,241.6 mGy vs 990.9 mGy; P < 0.01). Less experienced operators in the radial approach exposed patients to higher radiation doses (1,463 mGy vs 1,196 mGy; P = 0.02), which did not occur with the more experienced operators (1,311 mGy vs 1,449 mGy; P = 0.84). CONCLUSIONS: Patients undergoing invasive cardiologic procedures are exposed to higher radiation levels when the radial access is used. However, experienced operators may neutralize this disadvantage.
Radial artery; Femoral artery; Angioplasty; Cardiac catheterization; Radiation exposure
