Deborah Heart and Lung Center has been a regional leader in performing Transradial Artery Catheterizations – caths done through the wrist instead of the groin. Last year 1,000 wrist cath procedures were done at the hospital.

This exciting new procedure offers great benefit to the patients, including significantly lower risk of bleeding complications, earlier ambulation, and earlier discharge to name a few. Also, unlike the groin approach, patients do not have to lie flat and stay still for hours after the procedure.

Deborah’s physicians have now expanded the use of wrist caths to treat peripheral vascular disease in different vascular distributions. Blockages of the shoulder artery (Subclavian), kidney artery (Renal), abdominal artery (Superior Mesenteric Artery), and arteries to the legs (Iliac, External Iliac, and Femoral) can be treated through the wrist approach in appropriate patients. The new application of this innovative procedure is a tremendous plus for patients who have diseased and blocked leg arteries, and who face a much higher risk of bleeding and complications when treating peripheral artery disease with a traditional groin catheterization.

Deborah’s use of wrist caths to treat blockages of the abdominal/pelvis arteries offers fresh hope for an alternative, safer outpatient treatment for the patients with groin artery disease. “We have done some complicated cases through radial access,” said Kintur Sanghvi, M.D., Director of the Transradial Program at Deborah. “We can now thread our catheter through the wrist and travel as far as the hip joint to fix a blocked artery. We cannot yet clear blockages below thigh level in most cases, because the treatment devices are not long enough yet.”

Dr. Sanghvi -- who will be presenting his findings to his peers at Mid Atlantic Radial Symposium in North Jersey this month -- has numerous successful case studies on patients who had complex interventions through the wrist. “This is truly exciting for those patients who did not have an option for treatment through the groin artery approach and could not be previously treated with a catheterization,” he said. “I expect that we will be doing even more exciting and innovative procedures through radial access moving forward.”

back home