Rescue of Severely Twice-Kinked Catheter During Transradial Coronary Intervention Using Balloon Technique

Transradial (TR) approach demonstrates a significant reduction in vascular complication rates when compared with femoral approach. Nevertheless, minor kinking during this approach is not rare and in most of time can be resolved with a gentle opposite rotation maneuver. Sometimes a kinking is more severe and results in catheter entrapment in narrow radial or brachial artery. There are some documented rescue techniques described in the literature. Some of these techniques include the BP cuff technique, the femoral snare technique, the long sheath technique and the balloon retrieval technique. We report a case of a 55-years old man with stable angina pectoris who underwent coronary angiography at our hospital. During the procedure severe catheter kinking was noted. An opposite rotation maneuver failed to rescue the catheter. Then balloon rescue technique was attempted and catheter was safely extracted from radial artery. This technique can be an option during severe catheter kinking when conventional rescue maneuvers fail.