The Higher Cross-over Rate from Transradial to Transfemoral Coronary Angiography Do we have the explanation?

In our paper published in SQU Medical Journal in December 2009, we presented our early experience with radial artery catheterisation as an alternative route to the femoral artery for coronary angiography.1 Most of our findings were compatible with many previously published papers, but there where also disagreements, especially about the cross-over rate from the radial to the femoral approach which was higher (17.1%) in our study. We pointed out, however, that the cross-over was less in the second half of the study indicating developing technical expertise, nonetheless, the figure of 17.1% was still high and required explanation.