An alternative approach in tortuous coronary artery and distal stenosis during transradial percutaneous coronary intervention: deep engagement by a 5-Fr guiding catheter

Transradial approach for percutaneous interventions has emerged as an alternative to transfemoral access which is known to be more associated with vascular local complications. However, lack of guiding-catheter support via the radial access is one of the problems encountering the operators. Many solutions have been proposed to overcome this problem. We report on a 62-year-old man with tight stenosis of the distal part of the right coronary artery. He underwent coronary angiography and then percutaneous angioplasty via the right radial artery. During the procedure, attempts to advance a stent beyond a tortuosity at the level of the second segment failed due to lack of support of the 6-Fr Judkins right 4 guiding catheter, even with the buddy wire technique. Then, switching to a 5-Fr Judkins right 4 guiding catheter allowed safe deep engagement and resulted in successful advancement and deployment of the stent.

Keywords: Angioplasty, balloon, coronary, heart catheterization/instrumentation; radial artery; stents