Background: Transradial approach (TRA) has increasingly become the default strategy for cardiac catheterisation. However, TRA can result in several complications; radial artery occlusion (RAO) is the most unwilling complication. Unfractionated heparin (UFH) is an effective therapy in preventing RAO. The goal of this study was to evaluate whether weight-adjusted high dose UFH reduces the rate of RAO after diagnostic cardiac catheterisation compared to weight-adjusted standard dose UFH.
Methods: A total of 1215 patients screened and after exclusion criteria, 686 consecutive patients were enrolled. 100 IU/kg UFH (high dose UFH group) and 50 IU/kg UFH (standard dose UFH group) were given the patients undergoing diagnostic cardiac catheterisation. RAO was evaluated with vascular Doppler ultrasonography at 10 days after cardiac catheterisation.
Results: Among 686 patients undergoing diagnostic cardiac catheterisation, RAO was detected in 36 (5.2%) patients. There was no significant difference with respect to baseline characteristics and co-morbid diseases between high dose UFH group and standard dose UFH group. RAO was significantly higher in standard dose UFH group than high dose UFH group (7.9% vs. 3.0%, p = .004). Multivariate logistic regression analysis was demonstrated that age (OR: 0.958, 95% CI: 0.924-0.993, p = .019) and standard dose heparin (OR: 2.811, 95% CI: 1.347-5.866, p = .006) were independent factor for RAO.
Conclusions: High dose UFH was independently associated with a lower rate of RAO. Given that RAO nearly affects about 10% patient underwent TRA, prefer to high dose UFH may be a reasonable choice for RAO prevention.
Keywords: Transradial approach; high dose heparin; radial artery occlusion; standard dose heparin.