Study Assesses Safety and Efficacy of Radial Access for Peripheral Artery Interventions

October 16, 2023—The Society for Cardiovascular Angiography & Interventions (SCAI) announced the publication of findings from a study evaluating the safety and feasibility of using radial access (RA) for complex endovascular lower extremity interventions to treat peripheral artery disease.

The study showed that RA has the potential to be a safe and effective alternative to femoral access for peripheral artery interventions.

The study, “Prospective, Multicenter Registry to Assess Safety and Efficacy of Radial Access for Peripheral Artery Interventions” by Yulanka Castro-Dominguez, MD, et al, is available online as an article-in-press in JSCAI, the official journal of the society.

Mehdi Shishehbor, DO, President of University Hospitals Harrington Heart & Vascular Institute, in Cleveland, Ohio, is the Senior Investigator of the study.

“This study contributes to the growing body of evidence supporting the use of RA for peripheral artery interventions,” commented Dr. Shishehbor in the SCAI press release. “As medical professionals continue to explore different approaches, advances in technology and techniques are expected to further enhance the safety and efficacy of these procedures. With its potential to improve patient outcomes and satisfaction, RA may revolutionize the field of peripheral artery interventions.”

As summarized in the SCAI press release, the study investigators enrolled 120 patients at eight centers in the United States from June 2020 to June 2021. The patients’ mean age was 68.7 years and 31.7% were women. The 224 lesions treated were in iliac (12.9%), femoropopliteal (55.3%), isolated popliteal (11.9%) and tibial (19.5%) vessels.

The investigators reported that the primary efficacy endpoint was achieved in 112 (93.3%) patients. One patient (< 1%) required femoral access conversion to complete the procedure. Thirty (25.0%) patients required one or more additional accesses to facilitate crossing and/or to complete the planned treatment (five femoral, 10 tibial, and 17 pedal).

No serious adverse events were adjudicated to the procedure.

Mean procedure time was 74 minutes and time-to-ambulation was 3 hours 30 minutes with 93.3% same-day discharge. At 30 days, 97.2% of patients had ultrasound-confirmed RA patency.

According to SCAI, the study findings demonstrated that RA for peripheral artery interventions was associated with favorable safety profiles. Notably, the incidence of access site complications and major adverse cardiovascular events was significantly lower compared to the traditional femoral access approach.

The results also showed comparable procedural success rates and long-term clinical outcomes between the two approaches.

Additionally, the investigators noted that advantages of RA versus femoral access include improved patient comfort, reduced bleeding complications, and faster ambulation. Further research and clinical trials are warranted to validate these findings and establish RA as a mainstream approach in this field, advised the study investigators in the SCAI press release.