T he transradial approach to percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) has lower rates of bleeding and vascular sequelae than does the femoral approach. Compartment syndrome of the forearm is a rare vascular sequela associated with radial access. We describe an unusual case of compartment syndrome of the hand without involvement of the forearm.
Case ReportIn September 2015, a 64-year-old, right-handed man with a medical history of hypertension and end-stage renal disease (on hemodialysis) presented for elective outpatient cardiac catheterization. He had a systolic blood pressure (BP) of 190 mmHg. The patient's body mass index was 17.6 kg/m 2 (weight, 52 kg; height, 1.7 m). He had fair cardiac functional capacity and normal left ventricular function (ejection fraction, 0.55) on echocardiography.The patient's preprocedural laboratory values included an international normalized ratio of 1.0, a prothrombin time of 10.9 s, a baseline hemoglobin level of 9.1 g/dL, and a platelet count of 202,000/µL. He was given 325 mg of aspirin on the morning of the procedure.We attained, on the second attempt, right radial artery access with use of the frontwall (bare-needle) technique, and we inserted a 5F hydrophilic sheath 10 cm in length. Intra-arterial verapamil (5 mg) and intravenous unfractionated heparin (UFH) (5,000 U) were given at this point. Diagnostic cardiac catheterization revealed a mild stenosis involving the distal left main coronary artery (LMCA). The first obtuse marginal branch of the left circumflex coronary artery was a moderate-caliber vessel with a 90% eccentric stenosis. The sheath was upsized to 6F, and a 6F extra-backup guiding catheter engaged the LMCA without incident. The patient was given an additional 7,000 U of UFH, which resulted in an activated clotting time of 413 s. We successfully performed PCI of the obtuse marginal branch, using 2 drug-eluting stents. There was a good angiographic result-Thrombolysis in Myocardial Infarction-3 flow and no evidence of dissection. After the procedure, we gave the patient a 600-mg loading dose of clopidogrel.Upon completion of the procedure, we removed the right radial arterial sheath and placed an air-filled, transradial vascular hemostasis band over the access site. A small hematoma was noted proximal to the wristband, so a second vascular band was placed over that area. Pre-and postprocedural Barbeau tests with use of combined plethysmography and pulse oximetry recordings revealed normal findings consistent with patent radial and ulnar arteries. The patient was admitted to the inpatient medical service for post-PCI monitoring.Two hours later, nurses reported substantial bleeding upon initial deflation of 3 cc of air from the wristband, which was immediately reinflated per protocol. How-