Transradial Percutaneous Coronary Intervention in Acute Coronary Syndromes: a Case Report and Review of the Literature

The radial approach to perform coronary angiography and percutaneous coronary interventions (PCI) is currently supported by voluminous literature and has been repetitively shown to minimize access site related complications, reduce hospitalization time and costs and increase patient comfort compared to the femoral approach. Most importantly, in acute coronary syndromes the radial access has the potential to significantly decrease serious bleeding complications, which are related to increased morbidity and mortality rates. Despite gradually gaining popularity the radial approach is still used in only a small fraction of the total number of coronary procedures. We present herein the case of a woman suffering from acute inferior myocardial infarction referred to our hospital for emergency catheterization after failed fibrinolysis and treated successfully with transradial rescue PCI. The case presentation is followed by a concise  overview of data supporting the wider use of the radial approach,  especially focusing on acute coronary syndromes