Plädoyer für den sorgfältigen Umgang mit der A. radialis

Many interventions, mostly heart catheter investigations, are now carried out via the radial artery. The advantages compared to the transfemoral access route are obvious: the radial artery runs superficially and is therefore easy to locate and simple to compress. That signifies a substantial gain in comfort for the patient and the feared bleeding complications of the transfemoral access, especially during interventions under anticoagulation, are countered. The occlusion rate of this vessel after an intervention is up to 10%, whereby ischemic complications occur in only very few cases. According to the current recommendations in cardiology, an examination of the palmar arch before the intervention is no longer necessary; however, the risk of hand ischemia increases in cases of an occluded ulnar artery. In the case of a symptomatic occlusion a timely revision is accompanied by much less effort than after some weeks or months. This article presents three cases in which relevant complications occurred due to occlusion of the radial artery and the subsequent management could have been optimized by the rapid inclusion of vascular surgeon.