The association between the transradial approach for percutaneous coronary interventions and bleeding

Bleeding complications after percutaneous coronary interventions (PCI) are a significant clinical problem associated with worse patient outcomes, including mortality. A number of studies have demonstrated that the majority of bleeding complications in patients undergoing PCI are related to access-site bleeding. Employing the transradial artery approach to PCI markedly reduces these bleeding rates. The reductions in bleeding and transfusions from employing the transradial approach may be associated with improved survival in PCI patients. Despite these data, the prevalence of transradial PCI remains low and its adoption by operators has been slow to increase. Growing data to support the superior clinical outcomes with radial artery PCI, coupled with improved awareness of this data, may lead to increases in its adoption and improved clinical outcomes and mortality after PCI.