An Evaluation of Peripheral Vascular Access Site Complications Following Cardiac Angiography and Percutaneous Coronary Intervention (PCI)

Abstract

at one-week post procedure. Results: 3793 patient procedures were analysed. 63.5% were male, 72% had history of hypertension, average BMI of 29.5 kg/m 2 , and mean age 65.8 years. 80.6% of procedures were diagnostic angiography and the remainder PCI. Seventy-eight per cent of arterial sheaths were removed by RNs. Vascular closure techniques included: digital pressure (37%), femoral vascular closure devices (18.7%), femoral mechanical compression device (26.1%) or radial mechanical compression device (15.3%). Femoral access was performed in 99.6% of procedures in 2007, decreased to 59.5% in 2012. Radial access increased from 0.4% in 2007 to 40.1% in 2012. Brachial access was performed in 0.4% of cases in 2012. Complications were defined as bruising, bleeding, haematoma, retroperitoneal bleeding, pseudoaneurysm, AV fistula, infection or requirement for vascular surgery. 46.5% of all patients experienced some complication, of which the most common was bruising (44.6%). Patients who have radial procedures experienced the lowest complication rate (27.6%) compared to femoral (49.9%) or brachial procedures (64.7%). Large bleeding, large haematomas and large bruising occurred in 5% of patients who had radial access compared to 19.9% of femoral and 11.8% of brachial access. Conclusion: Patients having radial access experience fewer post procedure complications compared to other routes of access.