Femoral Versus Radial Artery Access for CTO PCIs: Is This the Final Round?

Historically, cardiac catheterization has been performed via transfemoral access (TFA). Although TFA remains necessary in multiple diagnostic and interventional settings, this technique has been associated with vascular access site complication rates ranging from 2% to 6%, prolonged hospital stay, and more deaths compared with radial artery access. Furthermore, safe utilization of the femoral artery can be compromised by abdominal obesity, atherosclerosis at the puncture site, and antithrombotic therapy, all which increase the bleeding risk.1 In the last decade, transradial artery access (TRA) emerged as the recommended approach for percutaneous coronary interventions (PCI), particularly in…