Radial Angiography
Dr Khurana is one of the few physicians in Northern Virginia offering
coronary angiography through the radial approach. This approach has
several advantages over conventional femoral angiography including markedly
reduced bleeding risk, significantly increased patient comfort and same
day discharges after stenting. Dr. Khurana is one of the earliest adopters
of this technique in the area and has been performing radial artery
catheterization for the last 3 years.
Of the 3 million cardiac catheterization procedures performed in the
United States annually, only 4% were performed via the radial approach
in 2007. Compare this to 35% in Canada, and Netherlands and 50% in France
and Japan. This low rate of adoption is due to the lack of the initiative
of interventional cardiologists to learn new techniques..
Advantages of Radial Angiography:
1) Patient comfort: Patients do not have to lie flat
for this procedure. This is especially helpful in patients with back
issues, lung disease and prostate problems
2) Markedly reduced bleeding risk: There is 70 % reduction
in the risk of bleeding with this procedure as compared to the femoral
(groin) approach
3) Same day discharge: Patients can go home the same
day after stent procedures done via radial approach
4) Economic advantages with reduced overall cost of the procedure:
Large scale data has shown that procedures done via the wrist are associated
with greatly reduced overall cost
5) Lower mortality: Recent trials have also shown that
there are lower death rates in patients presenting with heart attacks,
who have their catheterization performed via the radial approach.
