Comparision of pain levels of transradial versus transfemoral coronary catheterization: a prospective and randomized study

Objective: The aim of the present study was to assess access site pain levels of patients undergoing coronary catheterization via transradial route. Methods: We performed a prospective and randomized study in which 408 patients underwent coronary angiography (CAG) and/or percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) via transradial approach (TRA) and 428 patients underwent CAG and/or PCI via transfemoral approach (TFA). Pain levels of patients were assessed with Visual Analog Scale (VAS) after catheterization and at 30 days. Student-t, Mann-Whitney U and chi-square tests were used for statistical analysis. Results: Patients in the TRA group showed higher VAS scores than those in TFA group after catheterization [CAG alone, 3 (2-5) vs. 1 (1-3), p 0.0001; PCI, 4 (2-6) vs. 2 (1-3), p 0.0001, respectively]. One month later, patients in TRA group also showed higher VAS scores than those in TFA group [CAG alone, 1 (0-1) vs. 0 (0-1), p 0.0001; PCI, 1 (0-2) vs. 0 (0-1), p 0.0001, respectively]. By the ROC analysis in TRA group, a level of BMI 24.3 kg/m2 predicted unacceptable pain with a 87.3% sensitivity and 91.6% specificity [area under curve (AUC): 0.875, 95% CI: 0.839-0.906, p 0.0001], while a wrist circumference 16.7 cm predicted unacceptable pain with 84.6% sensitivity and 89.8% specificity (AUC: 0.900, 95% CI: 0.867-0.928, p 0.0001). Conclusion: The current study suggests that a radial approach for CAG and PCI in patients with a low BMI and small wrist circumference may cause more access site pain as compared with a femoral approach.