Effectiveness of Radial and Femoral Access Routes in Patients Treated with Percutaneous Coronary Intervention
Keywords:
percutaneous coronary intervention; coronary artery disease; femoral arterial access; radial arterial accessAbstract
Introduction: Radial access is the technique of choice for coronary intervention; however, in our setting, its adoption has been slow and heterogeneous, conditioned by greater historical experience with the femoral route, the longer learning curve of the radial route, and logistical limitations. The comparative effectiveness and safety of both approaches is unknown in our institution, which justifies the present study.
Objective: To evaluate angiographic success according to the access route, radial or femoral, in patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention.
Methods: Observational, analytical, cohort study conducted at the Institute of Cardiology and Cardiovascular Surgery between January 2023 and December 2024. The study population included 242 patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention via radial or femoral access.
Results: Males predominated, and the mean age was 62.8 ± 10.4 years. The proportion of angiographic success was similar between patients treated via the radial route and those treated via the femoral route (113/120; 94.2% vs. 120/122; 98.4%; p = 0.201). Femoral access resulted in longer hospital stays (4.5 [2.0-7.0] vs. 2.0 [1.5-3.5] days; p = 0.011), a higher incidence of significant bleeding (18.3% vs. 12.3%; p = 0.015), and higher in-hospital mortality (6.7% vs. 0%; p = 0.03) compared with radial access.
Conclusions: Radial access is as effective as femoral access for percutaneous coronary intervention and has a more favorable safety profile, with less bleeding, in-hospital mortality, and hospital stay.
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Copyright (c) 2026 Alejandro González Veliz, Yunior Abreu Pérez, Lariel Bladimir Torres Reyes, Lidia María Rodríguez Nande, Lorenzo Daniel Llerena Rojas, Susel Ramos Busutil
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