A single-center experience of transitioning from a routine transfemoral to a transradial intervention approach in ST-elevation myocardial infarction: Impact on door-to-balloon time and clinical outcomes.

BACKGROUND: In the emergent setting of ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI), transradial intervention (TRI) is less frequently employed than transfemoral intervention (TFI). Because of the greater technical complexity of TRI, a potential compromise in door-to-balloon (DTB) time remains a major concern of centers adopting TRI for STEMI.
METHODS: We performed a propensity-matched analysis, with 1:1 matching of TRI and TFI patients comparing DTB time, 30-day major adverse cardiac event (MACE), and bleeding outcomes of 1052 consecutive STEMI patients managed at our center during a 2-year transition program from routine TFI to TRI access for STEMI.
RESULTS: From January 2008 to April 2010, 359 (34.1%) STEMI patients underwent TRI and the remaining 693 (65.9%) STEMI patients underwent TFI. In 283 propensity score matched pairs of TRI and TFI patients, TRI was associated with shorter DTB time (63.6min vs 69.4min, p=0.027) and more patients having DTB time<90min (88.3% vs 82.3%, p=0.043). Thirty-day MACE occurred in 1.0% in the TRI group and 3.0% in the TFI group (p=0.129). There was no significant difference in major (p=0.313) or minor bleeding (p=0.714) between the TRI and TFI groups. There was a twofold greater use of glycoprotein (GP) IIb/IIIa inhibitor in the TRI group (68.5%) compared with the TFI group (36.4%) (p<0.001).
CONCLUSION: Compared with TFI, TRI was not associated with longer DTB time during our center's transition from routine TFI to TRI in STEMI. Our experience suggests that the transition to TRI in STEMI can be safely achieved with DTB times that are comparable and possibly better than propensity-matched TFI cases.