Background: Assessing the size of the distal radial artery (DRA) in anatomic snuffbox (AS) before coronary intervention is extremely important in the selection of suitable patients, improving the success rate of puncture and reducing the complications.
Objective: To evaluate the diameter of the DRA in AS and its influencing factors in Chinese patients scheduled for coronary intervention.
Methods: Ultrasound was used to detect the inner diameter of vessels. A total of 1182 patients were involved in the study.
Results: In all patients, the mean inner diameters of the DRA, conventional radial artery (CRA) and ulnar artery (UA) were 2.00 ± 0.43 mm, 2.38 ± 0.51 mm and 1.99 ± 0.47 mm, respectively. The proportion of DRA diameter ⩾2.0 mm was 53% (in all patients), 64% (in males), 36% (in females), respectively. The DRA/CRA ratios were 0.85 ± 0.13 in all patients, 0.86 ± 0.13 in males and 0.84 ± 0.13 in females. The diameter of the DRA was strongly positively correlated with the diameter of the CRA (r = 0.750, p < 0.05), and weakly correlated with the body mass index (r = 0.303, p < 0.05) and the diameter of the UA (r = 0.304, p < 0.05). Multivariate regression analysis showed that female sex, age ⩾60 years, body mass index <24 kg/m2, previous CRA/DRA access and history of coronary artery disease were independent predictors of the DRA diameter <2.0 mm.
Conclusion: Measurement of the diameter of the DRA by ultrasonography may offer important information prior to coronary catheterization.
Keywords: Distal radial artery; anatomical snuffbox; diameter; radial artery; ultrasound.