Radial artery coursing behind the biceps brachii tendon: significance for the transradial catheterization and a clinically oriented classification of the radial artery variations.

In routine clinical practice the variations of the radial artery are the main reason for technical failure during transradial catheterization. If these variations are well documented, however, they do not represent a problem in the transradial approach. Therefore, we report here a rare case of the radial artery which is very strange but potentially valuable for the clinical practice: it arises at a right angle from the brachial artery and passes behind the biceps brachii tendon. Based on our findings and on an extensive literature review, we propose for the first time a clinically oriented classification of the variations of the radial artery. This classification is related to the catheterization success at the usual access site of the radial artery at the wrist.