Acceso radial durante la angioplastía primaria en el infarto agudo al miocardio

background: radial access (ra) has been shown to help reduce vascular complications of coronary ar-teriography and angioplasty (ptca). however, little experience has been reported with ra to perform primary ptca in st elevation acute myocardial infarction (stemi). since december 2007, we selected ra as a first option for primary ptca in stemi. aim: to determine whether ra is as effective, safe and expeditious as femoral access (fa) in primary ptca for stemi method: we performed a retrospective review of our database of all patients undergoing primary ptca in our laboratory from sept 2005 through august 2009. we compared all patients who had a ptca using a fa to those in whom the ra was used. the door to balloon time, angiographic results, clinical success rate and complications related to the vascular access were compared between groups. follow-up was based con clinical visits and phone calls. values are expressed as mean and sd. results: 375 patients had an fa (75%) and 118 an ra (25%). mean age was similar in both groups (61±12 vs 62±12, respectively, ns). selected clinical characteristics did no differ between groups. door to balloon time was 62±37 min for fa and 61±29 min for ra (ns). clinical success rate exceeded 94% in both groups. vascular complications occurred in 3% in the af group. no vascular complications were observed in the ra group. thirty day overall mortality rates were 5.2% in fa and 4.0% in ra (ns). conclusion: radial access can be used for primary ptca in stemi with similar success rates and lower incidence of vascular complications, when compared to the traditional femoral access.