Development and adoption of endoscopic minimally invasive saphenous vein harvesting prompted its application to the radial artery in an effort to minimize surgical trauma. Recently, we reported that endoscopic radial artery harvesting was associated with better wound appearance and it proved to be safe and effective, with less pain and fewer wound complications than the open surgical technique....

A 79-year-old man with unstable angina developed localized left atrial tamponade after conventional coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) with endoscopic radial artery harvesting (ERAH). Hemodynamic instability developed several hours after the systemic heparinization. Transthoracic and later intraoperative transesophageal echocardiography revealed a large, isolated hematoma compressing the le...

BACKGROUND Radial artery wall might be damaged after cannulation for cardiac catheterization. We investigated structural changes of the radial artery wall after catheterization to understand whether these might predict radial pulsation loss or occlusion and local pain or functional impairment of the upper extremity. METHODS AND RESULTS Ninety patients underwent transradial coronary angiograph...

BACKGROUND The use of ultrasound (US) guidance for radial artery cannulation has been shown to improve first attempt success rate, reduce time to successful cannulation, and reduce complications. We sought to determine whether properly trained respiratory therapists (RTs) could utilize US guidance for the placement of radial artery catheters. Primary outcome measurements were successful cannula...

BACKGROUND Coronary artery bypass grafting using the radial artery has, since the 1990s, gone through a revival. Observational studies have indicated better long-term patency when using radial arteries. Therefore, radial artery might be preferred especially in younger patients where long time patency is important. During the last 10 years different endoscopic techniques to harvest the radial ar...

Abnormal arterial patterns in the forearm were discovered in 12 of 77 patients (16%) with Down's syndrome. Eight patients had an enlarged anterior interosseous artery, the distal portion of which was palpable over the dorsum of the hand; in seven it was associated with absence of the radial artery and in one it coexisted with the radial and ulnar arteries. Three patients had a hypoplastic radia...

BACKGROUND Graft patency is a fundamental predictor of long-term survival after coronary artery bypass surgery. Left and right internal thoracic artery (arterial) graft patency has been shown to be superior to that of saphenous vein grafts. More recently, the radial artery has been used as an aortocoronary graft, but little is known about the midterm and long-term patency of this conduit. We pe...