Radial artery

Background Vascular calcification, common carotid intima media thickness (CCA-IMT) and the presence of carotid pla-ques are strongly associated with cardiovascular disease in chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients [1, 2]. Arterial thickening contributes to elevated risk of cardiovascular episodes in patients on maintenance renal replacement therapy. The CCA-IMT, an early marker of vascular pathology, is commonly used to assess the advancement of atherosclerosis [3, 4]. In CKD patients, arterial calcifi-cations occur in two distinct locations: in the tunica in-tima and in the tunica media [5–7]. Intimal calcification is observed in atherosclerosis and is associated with inflam-matory infiltration and stenotic arterial lesions. Whereas atherosclerosis underlies ischemic heart disease and stroke, medial arterial calcification (MAC) decreases arterial compliance and increases arterial stiffening poten